The Story of Paul and Mieke of Blau Squadron
by Jack Hector Kamiya
Summary: Paul and Mieke are two yound Belkan pilots that get stuck together and go throught the war together. The Belkan War from the Belkans point of view. My first story ever. I've given up on this story, I may finish it someday though. Just not soon.
1. Chapter 1

Author Notes: **I don't own** **either the Ace Combat Series or any of the planes, weapons, vehicles, companies, or really anything mention in this story , though I am under the impression ****that my characters are original, please correct me if I'm wrong. This is just how I personally picture Belka and the world of Ace Combat.** The characters names were inspired from books, movies, games, people I know, and looking through a German dictionary. Some places and things I made up myself. Belka like in the game is roughly base off of Nazi Germany, Yuktobania is based on the Soviet Union in a slightly more benign form, Osea is loosely based on the United States, and ISAF/North Point (part of ISAF) is loosely based on U.S. and more of the U.K. in my story at least. I'm not so great with names so if anyone has idea for German sounding names and some character ideas please let me know. I'm also open to ideas. I've got a vague idea where this story is going with two main characters, second will be introduced in the next chapter. I've never done this before so** please give constructive reviews**.

All German words will appear in _italics_. All military ranks will be in German, just enter Germany Officer Ranks at wikipedia. If you can't read German just google "german dictionary", but here are some

translations.

_Ja_:yes, _Danke_:thank you, _Auf Wiedersehen_:good bye, _Herr_:Mr./Sir, _Guten Morgen_: good morning, _Luftwaffe_: air force, _Heer_: army, _Kriegsmarine_: navy

Also in German the letters are pronounce like the following: J: Y, W: V, V: F, CH: K/C

Ex. Volkswagen really sounds like 'Folksvaigen'.

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Chapter 1: How I Got Here

"Osean scheißen" growled as my radio cut out again. I looked at my F-5A Freedom Fighter, which was built by Northrop-Grumman an Osean company (AN: in real life it's an American company). This plane was outdated by decades and there were much better models available like the F-5E Tiger II or F-20 Tiger Shark. This old plane made simple routine peace time air patrols a pain in the ass. I flew my archaic fighter plane next to my flight lead. His plane like mine is painted dark sea blue with a grey stripe down the middle and a white nose, a black 05 on the side, and a blue jay perch on s tree branch. I hand signaled that my radio was out; he signaled that his was dying.

'RTB' was what he his next signal and he, Blau 05, his wingman Blau 06, and I, Blau 08, turned back for Sudenberg Air Force Base.

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Upon landing I notice that C-17s, contracted by Belka from North Point and main transport of the _Luftwaffe_, were unloading MiG-21s. Climbing out of my plane I saw my flight lead looking overjoyed at the sight of the Fishbeds.

"_Herr_ Hauptmann Freiman, what's with these Yuke planes?" I asked my flight lead. He was tall, 20 year old, man with light brown hair and matching eyes. Turning he said, "They're for us." 'Finally' I thought. Belka contracts planes from many countries mainly McDonnell-Douglas (AN: also American Companies) in North Point, some from Sukhoi and Mikoyan-Gurevich in Yuktobania (AN: Russian Companies), and Northrop-Grumman in Osean. Yuktobanian MiGs would be a far cry from Osean planes. Sometimes I feel like the world lives to take advantage of us.

"Hey! Paul!" Leutnant Deodar Krauss, Blau 06, was walking up to me from his plane. Krauss is 19, like me, almost always asks questions and overly friendly guy, not like me. He was shorter than me around 5' 7", has long dark blonde hair, and a nose that looked like it was broken, in my opinion someone did that to shut him up. "When does your new wingman arrive?" he asked as we walked to Blau Squadron quarters.

"Soon I guess" not really caring. I have had eight wingmen come and go in the year I've served in the Belkan _Luftwaffe_. I kept an eye on them in the sky, but never paid much attention on the ground. Come to think of it I couldn't remember their names since I never bothered to get to know them and they wanted to leave anyway. The 23rd Auxiliary Fighter Regiment and its three squadrons are backwater units with obsolete planes and people transferred to better equipped units as soon as possible. "You sound trilled" he said noticing my usual indifference. I just shrugged.

"Why do you never get to know your wingmen? Why don't you ever talk about your family or friends? Do you even have family or friends? Why did you join the _Luftwaffe_?"

Getting annoyed I said, "Why do you always ask a million questions? Just shut up and that's an order." As an Oberleutnant I found it's the only way to shut him up. His would only say after that,

"_Jawohl Mein Herr_!"

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We reached our quarters, he going into the room he shared with _Herr_ Hauptmann Schneider and me going into mine. Belkan _Luftwaffe_ code to allow wingmen to better know each other is to make the two pilots share a room. The room is simple with a bathroom to the right, two desks to the left, a bunk bed with nook and reading lap and a curtain for privacy, and a window at the end of the room. Bathroom had a toilet, basic shower unit and sliding door, and mirror that ran the length of the wall over two sinks.

As I climbed on my bed on the top bunk and found the manual for the Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21 bis. I open it and began to read. I made it my duty to know everything about the planes I fly and I always make sure I know the manual back to front. While reading, in spite of myself I started to think about Krauss's questions. Why don't I feel attached to anyone and why am I here? I guess it started years ago and for the first time since I left home I flip through the photo albums my father gave me. I thought about when I left home.

**One Year Ago Hoffnung, S****ü**den Belka, March 12**th****, 1994**

My alarm went off at 6:00. Opening my eyes I shut it off and crawl out of bed. I look out the widow and greeted with the old sight of a small street in the industry city of Hoffnung.

"Paul?" moan Oscar, the youngest of my four brothers "Why did you set the alarm so early?"

"Leaving early" I said indifferently pulling pants over the boxers I slept in and grabbing my brown leather jacket.

"Eh?"

"I'm supposed to report to the _Luftwaffe_ base near town today" I said rolling my eyes. With fours younger brothers and three little sisters no one including my parents remembered what I was doing. I was never in trouble with the _polizei_ or did badly in school so I was left forgotten. I spent most of my time at work, riding my motorcycle, watching planes at the air base, or reading. I thought about attending college, but father's paycheck from the railroad or mother's from the diner wasn't enough for me to attend any college in Belka. Plus overhearing them I realized they could barely afford to pay the bills with all eight of us.

"Why?" asked Peter, who just woke and is next oldest after me in the family, if you care.

Without looking at them and check I had everything in my backpack and duffle bag I said, "It pays more than the factories, I'll see more of the world or at least Belka, it'll be exciting, and I get three meals a day." 'And its not here where I dead weight and forgotten' I thought.

I left without saying anything to other brothers or my sisters. I wouldn't say I hated my family, but they'd never paid any attention to me and so I never felt attached to them or anyone. Maybe I did resent them a little for being treated like I wasn't there. Oh well.

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To my surprise in the kitchen my father, fairly well built man in his fifties, balding, has a raspy voice, he was there smoking a cigarette and had three books next to him.

"Paul… 'cough' uh… _guten morgen_." He was looking uncomfortable. "Hear you're joining the _Kriegsmarine_ even though you're 16."

"_Luftwaffe_" I corrected, "I can't swim, but you wouldn't know that. Would you? And I turned 18 before I graduated from high school, which you also wouldn't know. Eh?" I wasn't mad, just a little tired f crap.

He couldn't meet my gaze. "Oh… 'cough, wheeze' uh… I just wanted you to take these with you before you leave for what I already know will be forever." He looked upset.

"Father, look, I don't hate you guys, but it's like I'm not really part of this family so I just don't see the point staying. Plus I know money is too tight for you and mother to raise eight kids when I can work. Maybe I can go to college later with the money I make. Maybe I can send so home."

"I can't take your money after failing you! 'hack, wheeze' " he almost knocked the books off the table jumping up. I stared. 'Failing me huh?' "Sorry I didn't me to yell, but… uh I feel like I wasn't a good father" I agreed, but didn't say it. I might be insensitive, but not cruel.

Looking at the books I asked, "What are they?"

"Family photos."

"I don't…"

"Please." He looked so sad I couldn't say no.

"Er… right, _Danke_" I said briefly looking through them. Checking my watch I said, "I gotta go."

I left the kitchen to the back to my motorcycle. It was an old 1941 BWM motorcycle with side car that the _Heer_ used years ago. I loved this bike and kill anyone who'd touch it after the year I spent fixing it. I placed the albums in my duffle, my duffle in the side car, secured my backpack on my back, place an old _Heer_ steel helmet on my head and slide goggles over my eyes.

"When did you get this?" Father asked, clearly shocked, then coughing again.

"Three years ago and I spent a year fixing it up. Remember?"

"Er… _Ja_." I could almost always tell when someone was lying to me and he wasn't even a challenge, but I didn't say anything about it.

"I'm going now."

"Paul" He sounded so like he needed to say something important. He was even looking me straight in the eye for once. "Be careful and come back to visit us someday."

"_Ja_. Someday."

"Promise?" he said very quietly.

"_Ja_." I said just as quietly.

"_Danke_. 'cough, hack, cough' "

"You really should stop smoking."

I started the engine. It roared to life and I was quite satisfied by how smooth it was running. I heard him yell over the sound of engine, "_Auf wiedersehen_."

I turned and waved. "_Auf wiedersehen_."

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I sped off for the highway heading north. I arrive at the Hoffnung City _Luftwaffe_ Base located thirty mile west of Hoffnung. A guard holding an old H&K G3 stopped me at the gate.

"_Halt_!"

Pulling out some documents I handed them to him. "I believe I'm suppose to be reporting here."

"_Sehr gut_! _Beeil dich_, _mach Schnell_!" He yelled waving me on.

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"_Guten morgen_ soon to be proud pilots of the Principality of Belka and _Willkommen_ to the _Luftwaffe_" said an officer who was giving a speech to me and at least eighty other people. I tuned out at that point. I didn't care. I'll do whatever they want me to just as long as I have a job and I could fly, which sound exciting. Plus I kinda liked the idea of serving my country.

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Hours later another officer was asking me information about myself in a bored voice. He probably asked these questions a million times.

"Name."

"Paul Vogel."

"Age."

"18"

"Height."

"5' 8"

"Weight."

"141 pounds"

"Right then. Hair is brown. Eyes are green. That should cover it. Wait out side and we'll tell you where you'll be trained."

**Today Sudenberg Air Force Base, S****ü**den Belka, March 1, 1995

I finished my training with honors; I wasn't social and spent all my time practicing in simulators and reading manuals on air tactics and planes. I was extremely knowledgeable and very discipline soldier, but I didn't want leadership. I continued looking at pictures in the album while thinking about my 'fun' past. While flipping through the page I found pictures of my great grandparents when the Belka Federation still existed, before the Principality and the Fascist Party took over four years ago.

"_Achtung_, _Achtung_! _Herr_ Oberluntant Vogel report to _Herr_ Oberst Sturmhawke's office to pick up your new wingman!" Shouted a voice over the PA system effectively derailing my train of thought.

'I wonder who they sent me this time' I though vaguely.

To Be Continued

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AN: hope you like it. I know my writing isn't the best and I need to spell-check just tell me and I'll and fix it. If this isn't a stupid idea and you readers out there really like I'll post chapter two which 

includes a description of Sudenberg AFB, 23rd AFR, the other people on the base, and my other main character which if haven't guessed is Paul's new wingman. It gets bets better trust me.

Respectfully

J. H. Kamiya


	2. Chapter 2

Hey if you're reading this then you hopefully like my story and I would like to thank you from the bottom of my heart. Bare with me, I'm trying to get my characters introduce before the Belkan War starts which is March 25, 1995. Then there will be action and violence and comedy which I love.

Once again **I don't own Ace Combat, its characters, names, places, etc., or any of the companies, planes, guns, vehicles, or equipment that I didn't make up myself.** For more information see the author notes from the first chapter. Also I'm going to introduce more characters, provide more info about the base and 23rd Auxiliary Fighter Regiment: 172nd Grau Squadron, 173rd Braun Squadron, and 174th Blau Squadron.

**Someone please tell me what you think of this story. A review would be greatly welcomed.**

Here are more German translations; some are not **literal** translations.

_Nein_ No, _Grau_ Grey, _Braun_ Brown, _Blau_ Blue, _Frau_ Ms./Mrs./Ma'am, _Willkommen_: Welcome, _Achtung_: Attention, _Jawohl_: At Once/Roger, _Mein_ My,_ Reisefertig sein_:Ready to go, _Wehrmacht_:Military

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Chapter 2: You Two Will Get Along Fine

'No point in putting this off' I thought placing a bookmark in the Fishbed manual. I slipped off my flight suit. Like most pilots I wear the light-grey button collared shirt, and flat-grey pants under my flight suit. I loosened my belt to tuck in my shirt, and then grab a blue-black tie out of the trunk sitting under the window. After straightening my tie I pulled on my flat-grey, officer's jacket with silver-grey trim. I then pulled a brown belt over my jacket that included a silver-chrome clasp, three ammo pockets that each holds two pistol clips, a holster with Sig Sauer P-226, and a bayonet for a H&K G-3.

Examining myself in a mirror I decide this should be good enough to appear before the regiment commander _Herr_ Oberst Gerd Sturmhawke.

I left my room, headed down the hall, and I'm halfway through the common room when I stop. I turn around, head back to my room, and grab my officer's hat, which I'd left behind, off the hook on the

wall. Now I was on my way.

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Finally I arrived on my bike in front of base HQ I walk up to the second floor where the 23rd Officer's offices are kept.

Sitting on a bench outside of _Herr_ Oberst Sturmhawke's office was a girl. She wearing a uniform like my, but she had a skirt, flat-grey like my pants and goes all the way to her ankles. She also had an H&K P-8 and a Leutnant insignia on her shoulder. She had black hair that ran half way down her back, pale skin which made me think she was from the far north, and petite would be the word to describe her body. She was leaning forward and looking down at her feet. Upon noticing me she looked, relieving grey eyes, but looked down when we made eye contact. 'Someone could use those self-help CDs' I thought.

Walking past her I knocked on the Obert's office door and entered. Closing the door I snapped my heels together, stood up straight, and saluted. "_Herr_ Oberst Sturmhawke, Oberleutnant Vogel reporting as ordered" I said in a formal tone.

"_Sehr Gut_. Did you notice the pilot sitting outside?" he asked in his deep voice. Sturmhawke is about my height, short grey hair with some white, a thick grey mustache, and a few liver spots starting to appear. He was a sharp, but old man.

"_Ja Mein Herr_."

"She is your new wingman." I asked

"Eh? Uh… _mein herr_ isn't _Luftwaffe_ protocal said wingmen share quarters?"

"_Ja_ and what's your point? "

"She's a girl and I'm a boy. Isn't that against some protocol?" I didn't show it, but I was a little alarmed.

"_Nein_. I'm sure you two will get along fine. She's too nerves to talk alot and you care too little to talk, it's perfect." He was been in the _Luftwaffe_ too long. Clearly he's going senile at 51. He was getting that look that said 'I'm not getting out of this.' "sigh Is she okay with this?" I asked resigning myself to my fate.

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"Leutnant Mieke Ruhrman, meet your wing leader _Oberleutnant_ Paul Vogel" said Sturmhawke outside of his office. (AN: Mieke is pronounced like mee-kay or I think it is at least, if you've seen Euro Trip you should be well aware of this.)

Mieke stoop up, head leaning down slightly and only occasionally meeting my eyes, she was clearly uncomfortable. I had to look down to look her in the face; she was about three inches shorter than me. I also realized I was wrong about her hair; it was an extremely dark brown, not black. This isn't going to work, but I've got no choice.

"I'll show you your quarter's, just follow me" I said walking to my motorcycle.

In a small voice I heard her said, "_Jawohl mein herr_."

Once outside I handed her my other helmet and goggles and put my own helmet on. She sat in the sidecar and with a blue ribbon that she pulled out of her skirt pocket and began to tie her hair up. Once her hair was secure in a way that her helmet could fit and her hair wouldn't fly too freely she placed the helmet on her head.

"_Reisefertig sein_?" I asked starting the engine and ready to head to Blau Squadron quarters. "_Ja_, _mein herr_." She said in that same small voice. Shaking my head I said, "I prefer Paul. Oh and _Willkommen_ to the 174th Auxiliary Fighter Squadron or Blau Squadron."

I began to example about our regiment, "The 23rd Auxiliary Fighter Regiment has three squadrons each with various numbers of flights. Each flight contains two wings of two planes. The 23rd is part of 5th Air Division and servers as a relief unit if the main squadrons are overwhelmed. In the mean time we break-in newly trained pilots for the better units in the 5th Air Division. Anyways in our regiment the 172nd Braun Squadron and the 173rd Grau Squadron each have three fighter flights and two fighter-bomber flights. We're the smallest with three fighter flights and an intelligence officer."

I pointed to 13 MiGs sitting on the tarmac painted the same dark sea blue, grey stripe down the middle, white nose, black and yellow up-side-down triangle that is the Belka _Wehrmacht_ insignia, plane numbers in black, and the blue jay on the tail fins.

"Those are our planes. Brand new and replacing the old F-5As we were flying before." She looked up at me in horror. "Freedom fighters?" she asked sounding shocked that anyone would fly a 30 year old plane in any modern air force. "_Ja_, I don't know why we're getting better planes, but I'm not complaining" I said thinking about today's air patrol.

I pointed to the number 7 plane and said, "That one is mine and the number 8 is yours. There's a manual on your bed and I suggest you read it. I think it's very important to known everything about the plane you're flying."

* * *

He seemed nice I think. Tall, brown hair, bright green eyes which seemed much more alive then him, and he is clean cut, he is even be was kind of cute if he wasn't so distant and cold. I remember what Iwas told about him early. 

**Flashback to early that day in Sturmhawke's office**

"Uh… _mein herr_… isn't it… uh improper for male and female officers to share quarters" I asked in a small voice barely looking at him. 'This doesn't make sense' I thought.

"He's fine, he won't touch you" He paused and looked off somewhere behind me and said like he was talking to himself, "Come to think of it he probably won't even look or talk to you very much." He didn't shift from that position.

I was starting to wonder if _Herr_ Oberst Sturmhawke was too old to be in command or in the _Wehrmacht_. The silence continued. Starting to get annoyed I asked, "Um… is there anything I should know about my wing leader?"

_Herr_ Oberst was too far gone in his own world and my new squadron leader _Herr_ Major Ludwick von Klugg, a 30 year old man, with his hair pulled into a small ponytail, had to answer my question, "He is a very serious soldier, he has had eight wingmen before you that transferred to better equipped units within weeks of arriving, he's not a touchy-feely person, closes thing to a friend he has is our Intel officer/analysis, if he has family I don't know anything about them, and he is a little insensitive so don't take anything too personally. Aside from that he is a good pilot and in the air he will take care of you."

"I see, _danke_"

**End flashback**

"er… _mein herr_?" I stuttered.

"It's Paul. What do you want?" he asked without looking. He was paying more attention to where he was driving.

"You really want me to call you… er… Paul?" I hoped he could hear me because I said it so quietly.

"I'd prefer it, but I don't care, your going to transfer like all the others." For one moment I thought something in those bright green eyes looked hurt when he said, 'like all the others'. So much for the uncaring bastard I was told about.

"_Jawohl_. I guess I'm… uh… Mieke them?"

"If you want" he said clearly not caring. Maybe he is an uncaring bastard.

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We pulled up to a single story concrete building. We parked his motorcycle next to a similar one under a piece of sheet metal roof being used as a make-shift garage.

"uh… who does the other motorcycle belong to?" I asked while admiring it.

"_Herr_ Hauptmann Joseph von Klein, unit Intel/Analsys officer" he said.

I was about to touch it, but back off as if I was burned. In the Belkan _Wehrmacht_, Intelligence Officers not only provide intelligence, but also report 'unpatriotic' soldiers in the _Wehrmacht_ to the Grey Man (AN: I don't really understand what these Grey Men did during the Belkan War, they were mentioned in AC5 by Pops, so in my story there a secret police force. If it bothers anyone too much I'll try to create a new name). Intel Officers could be extremely dangers people if you were on their bad side.

I then realized that Paul was gone.

"Hey! Are you gonna just stand there or are you coming inside?" Paul yelled.

"Coming!"

Blau Squadron's quarters had one square building, a smaller square building attached on one side, and long rectangle building attached on the opposite side. The large square building was a common room with a T.V. and some arm chairs and couches. A few book shelves stood on the opposite side of the room from the entrance and a few more chairs by the shelves. To the left was a kitchen area with a shove, microwave, refrigerator, cabinets, and a sink. To the right was a laundry room with washer and drier. The walls were painted white and the floor was covered with a cheap blue carpet. The wall also had a chalkboard that listed the squadron's pilots and call signs, my name not on there yet, but I saw Paul write Leutnant Mieke Ruhrman on the chalkboard. Paul is called Grey Wolf, my flight lead is Blue Raven, and someone named Krauss is Question Mark. In addition to the chalkboard there were pictures of past pilots, planes, and outlines of Osean, Yuktobonian, Ustian, Sapin, and Belkan planes. There was also the Belkan flag and Blau Squadron flag.

"I like the unit flag it's kinda cute" I said mostly to myself.

"Really?" said a voice behind me the made jump. I'd forgotten Paul was still in the room.

Acting like nothing happened he said, "uh… our… er… room is this way."

Entering the room I saw my name was on the door below his. The room had white walls and blue carpet like the rest of the building. I was relieved that Paul didn't keep bikini calendars, dirty posters, or pornographic magazines. He just kept a fighter plane calendar, a motorcycle poster, a radio and computer on his desk, and books on the desk and in the nook by his bed. 'He must read a lot' I thought judging by the number of books around the room. I the bathroom was an electric razor, deodorant 'thank god', toothpaste, toothbrush, soap, and cheap shampoo.

I saw that Paul was taking his jacket off and tie and I started to panic. "YOU NOT UNDRESSING, ARE YOU!?!" I screamed. He looks at me like I was crazy and simply said, "Just taking off myofficer's jacket, tie, gun, and boots."

He did just that and climbed onto the top bunk and starting reading something like he didn't have a care in the world. To cover my embarrassment I started to unpack my things that someone kindly delivered here early.

"Paul?"

"_Ja_… uh… um… what was your name again?" he asked without looking at me.

"Mieke. You… er… might want to remember that because this is a permanent assignment." That got his attention more than when I screamed early. I felt what little courage to continue conversation die with that and I sat down on my bed and started to read the manual for the MiG-21 bis aka 'Fishbed'.

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'PERMANENT ASSIGNMENT!' I thought while breaking into a cold sweat. 'Calm down. Calm down. Calm down. She's only a girl. She's a pilot like me only shorter and smells nicer and shiner hair and different body parts and… UUHGGG!' 

**Hours Later**

Fortunately, everyone had gone into town for drinks and I wouldn't have to explain Mieke yet. I wasn't mentally prepared for that. I had just calmed down from my silent, but intense panic attack.'Everything will be okay' I told myself, 'at least I'm not attracted to her. Come to think of it what kind of girl am I attracted to?' And with that I kept thinking until I fell asleep.

To Be Continue

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German _Heer_ and _Luftwaffe_ Officer Ranks from lowest to highest: Leutnant: 2nd Lieutenant, Oberleutnant: 1st Lieutenant, Hauptmann: Captain, Major: Major, Oberstleutnant: Lt. Colonel, Oberst: Colonel, Brigadegeneral: Brigadier General, Generalmajor: Major General, Generalleutnant: Lt. General, General: General 

Knowing me there are spell errors I missed so help me out if you can. I still open to ideas here. I don't know about you, but I personally enjoy this last part. Oh and if you haven't guessed I going for a romance story, but I'm not very confident in my knowledge of romance.

Okay maybe I do know what to do, but I would love to hear other people's ideas. I would also help if you give me character ideas:

1. Name, German name if you can (Belka is based on Germany)

2. Brief description, age, height, hair and eye color, and any defining physical appearances

3. Personality (I can do some of it myself, but other people idea would be nice)

4. Role in my story (please keep in mind I have some roles fill already)

I can't promise I'll do what you want, but I would really appreciate character ideas as long as it doesn't clash too much with my story.

Respectfully

J. H. Kamiya


	3. Chapter 3

Hi ya'll. Okay I've been thinking of new ways to torture Paul and Mieke and I've been enjoying it. Once again I would like to thank the people who decided to read more than the first sentence of the first chapter. Since no one was given me a review as of yet I don't know if any one is reading my story, but I like to think there are some people. Good news though, I have a mock dogfight so there is a little action. I think this is going to be a long story so stay with me, please. **I still don't own Ace Combat or any of the planes, guns, equipment, vehicles, and blah blah blah.** Seriously I could never buy a company like Heckler & Koch or Lockheed-Martin.

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Chapter 3: D-Day +1

Morning at last. The day after **she** arrived, D-Day +1 in military terms. I smelled a damp sweet smell which told me Mieke must have taken a shower. My heart stopped. The bathroom door was open and I nervously looked inside. There was a wet towel hanging to dry and there she was. Mieke's hair was wet, but **thank god** she was fully clothed in flat-grey pants and light-grey button shirt like mine.

"_Guten Morgen_" I said. She couldn't say anything because she was in the middle of brushing her teeth, she only nodded.

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"_Guten Morgen_ Wolfgang, what you making for breakfast?" I asked, I was starving.

"Something that I think is sausage, something that looks like beacon, and imitation scrabble eggs." He answered without looking away from the stove. Oberleutnant Wolfgang Foulke (AN: same last name a Solo Wing Pixy, Larry Foulke) also know as Blau 11 aka Frying Pan, is a C Flight pilot and does most of the cooking. He can make disgusting _Wehrmacht_ issue ready to eat meals into something eatable.

"Hey. Vogel I was looking at the board and I saw your new wingman's…" Said _Herr_ Hauptmann Freiman who stopped dead at the sight of Mieke. "So your wingman really is a girl. Er…" An awkward silence ensued as everyone stared at Mieke and she slow turned redder and redder not meeting anybodies gaze. Krauss started to question her. "Hi Mieke I'm Deodar Krauss, so how old are you?"

"18"

"Where are you from?"

"Dinsmark" So she is from the northern part of Belka; naming the capital as her home.

"So how do you like Blau Squadron? You like your room? What do you think of Paul? How do you feel about sharing a room with him? Does it scare you? Make you feel nerves?" His questions were becoming too rapid for Mieke to answer. Oh well, not my problem.

"Hey, Paul" Now it's my problem

"How do you feel about Mieke? What was it like to share a room with a girl? Do you know her cup size?" That last question caught me so off guard I couldn't answer. Then, my well honed senses told me danger was near. Mieke's face was bright red, her grey eyes showed rage, and the coffee mug in her hand was slowly being crushed. Krauss was in mortal peril, neat.

"Krauss" He's so owes me "don't you have paper work to do, **now**."

"Oh, _Ja_." He said looking a little disappointed. He has no idea his neck is going to be crushed like that mug.

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After breakfast I decided I would take my new Fishbed up. Also it would be a good idea to take Mieke with me.

Suited up in our grey flight suits we head down the tarmac to the B flight planes. Mieke had returned to her quiet, nerves self. I had to rethink my image of her. 'A violent temper underneath the surface' I thought to myself.

"Have picked a call sign yet?"

"Tempest, what do you think?" It almost sounded like she needed my approval. I thought about the torrent of rage in those eyes of hers.

"Well? What to you think?" I asked. I thought it was good.

He smiled a little and said, "I think its fitting." He climbed in his plane and I into mine.

* * *

"Tempest this is Grey Wolf do you read me? Over." 

"_Ja_. I hear you Grey Wolf." I responded. It was beautiful flying 8,000 feet above Süden Belka. The land below us was pine tree covered mountains, but most of Belka's borders were covered in mountains.

"Grey Wolf aren't we near air space B7R? Over"

"Roger that. It's only a 30 minute flight south of Sudenberg, but we're more west. Over." Paul sounded not only alive, but sounded happy to be in the air.

"You sound happy Grey Wolf. Over"

"You sound confident and brave. Over" I blushed a little. He was more friendly in the air I could only hope we could be better friends on the ground.

"We're loaded with paint rounds and training missiles. I wanna get a feel for your skills in dogfighting. Understand? Over."

With a devilish grin I answer, "Understood. Let's see what you can do. Over." He laughed at that and broke right and accelerated. He then dove into a cloud and I lost sight of him. "We're beginning now. Prepared yourself. Over." He sounded pretty serious at that.

I looked up. There aren't any clouds to allow Paul to get above me unnoticed. I rolled my plane 180 degrees and looked down. Not sign of him. I rolled up, paused, and rolled 180 again. There he was in full after burners coming right at me. I jinked right and dived into a vertical spiral with his plane in the middle of my spiral.

He fired off a burst from his twin 23mm cannons. I broke left and we past each other.

"Not bad. You can handle the basics, now let's try this." He sound amused.

Out of the corner of my I saw something. 'Attacking from the side?' That wasn't an easy task, but Paul seemed to have lined up and fired a burst at me. "Shack on a target" Looking to right there was orange paint on the side of my plane.

"I wouldn't call it a splash, but I did hit you. My instructors told me to be prepared because a good ace will attack in unexpected ways. Confuse your enemy and be deceitful." He said.

'Deceitful eh?' I thought with my grin returning, 'I can do that'. I turned into him in a head on pass. We raced towards each other at full throttle, no after burners; I then heard the beeping of my radar lock warning system. A few seconds later a loud buzz, my HUD turned red, and I saw a training missile coming at me. (AN: in real life no one in their right mind would shoot a missile turning a mock battle because it's a huge waste of money and if any projectile hits a plane in flight it would rip the plane apart, but what the hell this is my story.) I sent my plane in a corkscrew and at the height of the move I dropped counter-measures. "Flares!" I yelled.

I saw my chance and fired a burst from my twin 23mm cannons while angling left. "Guns! Shack on a target." I knew I hit his wing a little.

"Hee hee that was pretty good" he laughed a little, "form up on me Tempest so I can see if you can stay in formation with me at high speeds. Over"

"_Jawohl_, Grey Wolf. Over"

We spent the rest of the exercise maneuvering sharply around the mountains at low altitudes.

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Someone had left a pot of coffee in the kitchen which I drank gratefully. Paul was in the smaller square building that was someone's office.

"Mieke! Someone needs to see you!" Paul yelled from the door, "follow me."

Getting up I said, "_Jawohl_."

* * *

Meike was walking, took one look at the door, and froze upon seeing the words 'Hauptmann Joseph von Klein Intelligence and Analytical Wing'. Everyone is scared of von Klein because he could report anyone to the Grey Men for re-education. The only thing about him the scares me is he's the only person who can lie to me and I would never noticing. We'd got to know each other because of our motorcycles, but he owned a 1944 BMW (AN: I personally don't know if it exists, but picture a World War II era German motorcycle). _Herr_ Hauptmann von Klein's office is a large square office. A bed, bathroom door, hotplate, mini-refrigerator, microwave on top, trunk, a hook with a winter coat, a hat and officer's jacket. The walls had maps of the world, one map of Belka, one of Ustio, one of our continent, and one of the area around B7R aka Round Table. Pictures of foreign pilots with information on the planes they fly, call sign, an notable actions. He had two desks, one with a work lamp and files on it, the other with a computer, communication radio, and other machines I didn't recognize. File cabinets and files were all over the room.

"Leutnant Mieke Ruhrman?" Asked a slightly weary, but powerful voice. Von Klein was sitting in his swivel chair and stood up to greet Mieke. _Herr_ Hauptmann Jesoph von Klein was a 23 year old Osten Belkan and he'd been in the _Luftwaffe_ for over five years now. He was 5' 11" or maybe even 6' tall, short flat-black hair which he keep up on the front, dark brown eyes, he looked like someone who shaves every other day, and he had two scars on left check and one on the left side of his neck. He rarely showed emotion other than his eyes which made you think he had a lot on his mind, but he wasn't sharing.

He wore the same uniform as us, but his officer's jacket was unbuttoned and hanging opened. The way it was hanging lower on one side made me think more than once he kept a gun hidden in there. He also wore his gun belt of his pant's belt. When he adjusted his pants it relieved an H&K Mk. 23 and similar knife to mine.

"That's right _mein herr_." I said and look to my right expecting to see Mieke. She was gone. I looked left, but she wasn't there either. "_Guten tag mein herr_." Said a small terrified voice behind me. Rolling me eyes I side stepped, but she hid behind me again.

Von Klein rolled his eyes and started to talk in a flat military tone, "I'm Hauptmann Joseph von Klein, intelligence officer, Blau 13, but in the air _volks_ call me Shepherd. I provide information to the 23rd AFR and sometimes fly sorties with Blau Squadron. Most people are too scared to approach me and send Vogel because he's the only one with enough of a backbone to face me."

"_Mein Herr_" I asked, "You said earlier to me that Braun and Grau Squadrons' fighter flights are getting Fishbeds too. Why?"

Von Klein sat down again and rested his chin on clasped hands. "Their fighter-bomber flights are getting new planes as well. Also all squadrons are getting pilots to fill in the missing spots." He said without answering my question. "But why?"

His raised an eyebrow, "You can't guess? Well it doesn't matter because I'm not allowed to tell you."

"I see. Well I better get going then." I said. I had a hunch on why, but I wanted him to confirm it for me. He knew I had guessed, but he wasn't going to tell, yet.

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"Where does everyone go at this hour?" asked Mieke as we ate diner alone in the kitchen.

"Into a small city near by called Sudenberg." I answer calmly still wondering if my conclusions were correct.

"Is the base named for the city?"

"_Ja_. They usually are."

"Do you think the fact that an auxiliary regiment is being better equipped is a sign of war." She was sharper then I thought. I looked at the Belkan flag hanging on the wall and quietly said, "_Ja_."

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I was reading a mystery novel in my bed. Mieke was in hers typing away on her laptop. Neither one of had spoken a word since diner and the sun had long ago set. In the back of my mind I was still thinking about what war means. Oh well.

"You okay Paul?" asked Mieke while she was typing.

"hm… no one has ever asked me that" I said thinking about what she just asked.

The typing stopped, "Really? … that's too bad… huh? Are you okay?"

I thought about that a little, "I guess I'm fine."

Silence and then, "Liar."

She is full of surprises, "I've got a question. If I hadn't told Krauss to do his paper work would you have crushed him like that coffee mug?"

"Maybe just break his nose" a pause and then she said, "People always made fun of me because of my small timid appearance and so I started to practice some material arts. I got in trouble a few times in the past for breaking peoples' noses or knocking teeth out. Once in high school a guy ran his hand up my skirt and I crushed his hand. giggle He'll think twice about feeling-up girls before doing it again."

"'sigh' at least people remember you." I said flatly.

"What do you mean?" Mieke said a little surprised.

I thought about answer her and said, "Nothing. It's late go to bed soon."

"… liar."

I didn't say anything. I just let the silence continue.

"_Guten natch_ Paul."

"_Ja_, _guten natch_ Mieke." And with that I went to bed while she went back to typing whatever she was typing.

To Be Continued

* * *

Sorry if the you hate the end of this chapter. I've got some fun idea for the next chapter, but I'm still open for ideas here. Also I'm starting to hate the title for this story, it was late and I was tired. I don't care what title someone comes up with, as long as it was something to do with this story. Oh, if you don't speak German just check out http://wolfram. and enter the word you don't understand. I don't speak German either, but I've watch so many World War II movies I've picked up some words. 

Respectfully

J. H. Kamiya


	4. Chapter 4

Hi again. Thanks you for still reading my story. Please review and feel free to submit ideas or character ideas.

**I still don't own Ace Combat, Heckler & Koch, Northrop Grumman, McDonnell Douglas, Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Clock, etc. Doing I even really own my story?**

Here more German translations. Maybe I should learn German.

_S_ü_den_: Southern, _Norden_: Northern, _Westen_: Western, _Osten_: Eastern, _S_ü_d_: South, _Nord_: North, _West_: West, _Ost_: East, _Guten Natch_: Good Night, _Nein_: No

* * *

Chapter 4: I Have a Friend?

Morning again. March 15th to be exact. Mieke has been here for two weeks and I've gotten use to her or in other words I ignored her most of the time. This wasn't an easy task because she spent most of her time around me as though she was too scared to be around anyone else. For now Mieke was not here, likely she's with _Frau_ Hauptmann Anne Kautz and Luetnant Sophie Rotwald; Blau 09 and 10 the only other female pilots in our squadron. They were the only other people she hung out with when she wasn't with me.

'I think I'll take a shower now' I thought getting out of bed and climbing down the ladder. I stepped on something soft on the floor and looked down. It was white and small like a handkerchief and looked like it was made of cotton. I couldn't think what it could possibly be and pick it up. Holding it in both hands I held it in front of my eyes. My eyes widen and my jaw dropped as I released what it was.

"YYAAAAHHH!" I screamed and jumping backwards, dropping what I released now was Mieke's panties like it burned me. "OW!" I yelled banging my head against the bunk bed. I was double over, breathing hard and holding my chest and the back of my head.

After several minutes I stubble over to the bathroom, I was still trembling a little from the shock. I closed the door and unbuttoned my whitish grey shirt. I took it off, then undid my belt, and unzipped my pants. I had my pants half way off when the door open and Mieke walk in. "Paul I was wondering if you cou…EEEPP!" She stopped dead in the middle of whatever she was asking when she released I had no shirt and my pants half way off. 'At least I still have my boxers on' the only comforting thought I had. It was a very long four seconds that past before a bright red Mieke slowly left the room and closed the door. I quickly locked it and proceeded to turn the water on.

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After my shower I exited the room and sat down at my desk. "This morning has been too much." I groaned. I turned on my laptop and started to check the internet for new motorcycle seat. An add pop up showing the new Porsche motorcycles and a model in a bikini. The image of Mieke's half cotton, half synthetic white panties came to mind. "This morning has been way too much."

I closed the pop up and exited the site. I next began to read an article on the new EF-2000 Typhoons that the _Luftwaffe_ was introducing soon.

"Paul?" Asked a nerves voice to my left.

"What?" I asked, still reading the article and trying not to think very hard about her or her panties.

"Er… sorry about early."

"Knock next time if the bathroom door is closed." I said still reading.

"I need a ride to town."

"Eh?" I asked not really listening.

"My mom's birthday is on the 28th and I wanted to get her something, besides I've never been to Sudenberg." She said eagerly.

"That's nice. Have fun." I said indifferently still reading about the Typhoon. 'Light, cheap, maneuverable, but lacks the speed of the Eagle or Fulcrum' I thought.

"I thought you could give me a ride."

"You thought wrong."

"Please." She asked nicely.

"_Nein_." In the same indifferent tone.

"Please take me, you never go to town and everyone else is gone." She asked sounding annoyed.

"I haven't felt like going and you can get a ride with someone around here there are two air divisions on this base." I said simply, while reading about new Super Hornets Belka had just bought from North Point.

"Common on. Please." She begged.

I turned my head left and looked right into her eyes. "Make me" I said and turned back to reading about the Super Hornets.

A silence ensued and I decided she had given up. I then felt warm air gently blowing against the left of my cheek. I turned to my left again and froze in shock. Mieke was only three inches away from my face. Her eyes, which I could now see had specks of green and brown which gave a beautiful effect, were wide and shiny. I could also see there were a few small freckles on and around her nose, which further added to her cuteness. Her hair, body, and breath all had slightly different scents, but it the effect was nice. To top this all off her mouth formed a sweet little smile. "Please Paul" she whispered sweetly and gently to me.

"AAAHHHHH!" I yelled while simultaneously falling backwards in my chair. Groaning, I look up to see she was smiling with her eyes closed and her head cocked to the side slightly. "Well?"

"Fine, fine, just let me change." I said from the floor. 'Never say make me to her again.'

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"_Reisefertig sein_?" I asked still annoyed she talked me into this. I had changed into some olive drab cargo pants, a plain white T-shirt, and my brown jacket. She was wearing a knee length tan skirt, a yellow T-shirt with the words "_Es ist zu teuer_" on it, and jean jacket over it.

"_Ja_." She said tying her hair up.

"I don't know where my other helmet went so you'll have to ride without one." I said realizing that I haven't seen it since Mieke arrived two weeks ago.

"Oh I have it" she said pulling out my other helmet and goggles. She had put her name on the inside of it and painted a picture of a tempest on the right side.

"Hey! That's mine!" She's taking my stuff now.

"And I'm your wingman" she responded, "besides; who else would you give a ride."

She's been getting more self confident or at least with me. When ever she was around someone else she was quiet. Maybe this is her way of being comfortable with me. Maybe she was using those self-help CDs.

"Let's go." I said resigning myself to this. It's not even 11 O'clock and I've almost had a heart attack, bodily exposed, manipulated, and robbed, what else could happen? I started the engine and let it warm up a little.

"_Herr_ Hauptmann von Klein isn't here either?" She asked noticing that von Klein's motorcycle was gone.

"He goes into town for a drink or something like that sometimes."

We were off now and headed for the base exit. After a guard with an H&K MP-5 waved us on we headed down the road to the small city of Sudenberg.

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We were only about 15 minutes away from Sudenberg. We approached a railroad crossing and I stopped when the lights started flashing, a warning bell ringing, and the gate started to lower. A pair of diesel locomotives slowly roared passed the two of us. They hauled flatcars loaded with new Leopard 2 MBT, Marder IFV, Gepard self-propelled AAs, ATF Dingos, AFG light recon vehicles, FH-70 howitzers, Panzerhaubitse 2000, LARSs, and Rheinmetall AAs. Because the military train wasn't traveling too fast Mieke and I could easily see soldiers with H&K G-36s, H&K MP-5s, H&K MG-21s, H&K PSG-1, Panzerfaust 3 with laser range finder, and Benelli M3T shotguns.

"That's an awful lot of fire power" Mieke said seriously.

"_Ja_, they're probably going to Hydrian Line on the border. Looks like Belka is really getting ready for war." I said darkly. Mieke looked down in silence and said, "I wonder what are first mission will be." Her voice trailed off as she and I thought war for some reason was inevitable. "Why?" she weakly asked, I could only shake my head because I wasn't sure why either.

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Driving down a street lined with stores and restaurants I realized something, "Why did you make me drive you into town again?"

"To get something for my mother's birthday, remember?" She said patiently.

"Er… _nein_." I said pulling into an empty space in front of book store. "What are you getting her?"

"Oh, I don't know." She said thinking while we both walked down the street. We spent an hour looking around different stores or she spent an hour looking while followed her wondering who long this is going to take.

"What do you think of this?" Mieke eagerly asked holding up a red sweater with a sleeping white dog on it.

Thinking fast I quickly said, "I like. Buy it and let's go."

"… Liar." She said quietly and then put the sweater back. We left the little cloths store that we early and stopped in the tavern for lunch.

The tavern was a favorite of the stationed soldiers and had gone under so many different managements and name changes that nobody remembers its name. The food also changes because the different owners, but the interior and some of the staff never changed. It had wooden floors, wooden wall, wooden tables, and wooden chairs. Photos of Sudenberg in the past, local people, and the numerous past owners of what we just call the Tavern. Mieke and I sat down on stools at the bar and wait for Harold the bartender, no relation to Hauptmann Harold Freiman our flight lead. Harold was one of the few things that didn't change in here, he was a balding man in his sixties, he could stand to lose 20 pounds, had a laugh that could shake the room and belly, and often went off on little 'life lesson' stories.

"Paul, _Guten tag_!" Harold happily, but practically yelled to me. "What do ya want? Beer? Whisky?"

"Soda." I simply said, I drink, but not often. (AN: I have it that the drinking age is 18 in Belka. I'm also trying to make Paul and Mieke semi-responsible characters.) He slide a can in front of me and I started to drink.

Harold chose that moment with an evil grin to said, "What will your girlfriend have?"

I spat a mouth full of soda all over Harold who was standing in front of me. "She 'cough'… is my 'wheeze'… wingman."

"Really? Just a wingman? Well when I was young I had a friend, who ran a… well I don't remember now, but there was this girl that worked as his partner and well… uh what happened then?" While he was thinking I wondered whether I wanted a turkey or ham sandwich.

"Can I get a ham and Swiss sandwich?" Mieke had been so busy deciding what she wanted she hadn't notice anything else. Thank god for that.

"Huh? … Oh right and Paul you want what?" Harold he asked coming out of some deep thinking.

* * *

I was enjoying myself greatly. Really, I wonder why Paul never comes down here? He needs to get out more. Speaking of Paul, why do he mean when he said 'at least people remember you'. I've been trying to find out from other people for two weeks now, but they seem to hardly know him. 

"Vogel, Ruhrman, _Guten tag_" said a weary, but strong voice that sent chills down my spine. "_Herr_ Hauptmann von Klein, _willkommen_." Harold said greet him, but not a happily as he had for us, he looked a little scared of him. He was wearing blue jeans, a brown plaid button shirt, blue and black coat, and a bluish-grey Greek fisherman hat with a black rim (AN: I actually own those cloths). Like the few times I've seen him before he looked like he tried to stay clean and sleep, but was busy with other things. There were the usual dark bags under his eyes, they also looked blood-shot, there were whiskers he failed to shave off, and his hair like he combed his hair once and then ran his hands through it many times later. He sat down next to me and said unemotionally, "Turkey, plain, on white, coffee, and a cookie, please."

Harold walked off without a word and von Klein began to read documents he pulled from inside his coat. Paul asked what he was reading.

"Stuff." He simply stated.

"Okay, tell me when you're allowed." Paul turned to me and said, "I'm going to the bathroom, if Harold starts telling one of his stories run for your life." He left for the back end of the tavern where the hallway to the bathrooms is. As he left I realized that von Klein job was to know all the soldiers in the regiment and he is Paul's friend.

"uh… _mien her_?" I asked in a shaky voice, even out of uniform and eating a turkey sandwich he's still intimating. "eh?" he said without looking at me.

I took a deep breath and said nervously, "What can you tell me about Paul?"

He turned and looked me in the eye. I felt like he could see right through my soul, but for once in my life I didn't break eye contact when someone was looking at me. He turned back to his plant and finished his sandwich, stuffing it into his mouth like he hadn't eaten in days or had any table manners to speak of. 'I guess he won't tell me anything' I though as I looked out the window onto the street.

"He's from Hoffnung." I turned to see him taking a sip from his cup. "He has a father who works operates a signal box for the railroad and a mother who works as a waitress in a diner. He has four little brothers and three little sisters. Needless to say his family never had much money, time, or attention to spare and he got left out most of the time. His physic profile says he has trouble attaching himself to people because he was never close to his own family. He spent most of his time working at a repair shop fixing clocks, TV's, lamps, etc. He's not the least bit unstable and perfectly sane, but he doesn't have friends." He said it all with no facial expression, but his eyes showed a slight sign of compassion. "That's basically all you need to know." He stuff the cookie down, emptied the coffee cup, left a few Belka Marks (AN: Marks was the German currency before the Euro.), and was about to leave the tavern.

I began to think about what he was saying and I said, "But aren't I his friend."

He looked at me with a small look of surprise in his eyes. He then for the first time I'd ever seen smiled, a sad and pitying smile, but a smile. It made him look very tired and weary, as though he was eighty, but it was nice to know he could smile. "Think about it, what does he perceive as true?" He was gone with at last sentence.

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"How much longer do we have to do this, it's almost 4:45." Paul groaned. We were walking down a side street having left the tavern hours ago.

We approached a small photo shop and I went in, Paul grudgingly followed. I looked around at the cameras, picture fames, a sign that said 'get your picture taken here', film, a… wait what did that sign say?

"Perfect!" I squealed.

"What?" Paul asked looking bored.

I answer because I was to busy talking to the clerk who nodded and point to a bench with a camera on a tripod facing it. I then grabbed Paul by the shirt and started dragging him along.

"Hey! What the hell are you doing?!" He yelled at me.

I push him on the bench, sat down next to him and sweetly said, "Smile for the camera."

"Huh?"

* * *

Mieke was now sitting in the sidecar tying her hair for the ride back. I look at the picture of her and me. She had hair hand raise in greeting and a bright smile on her face. I was staring at the camera with a look of confusion on my face because she hadn't told me what we were doing. 

" Uh… 'My Best-friend'? Don't you have real friends at home?" I asked bluntly.

"_Nein_, between not having a lot of self-esteem and breaking a few peoples' noses I never made many friends, you?"

"I spent most of my time reading or working and didn't really want friends." I said shrugging. "But since when have I been your best friend? What about _Frau_ Hauptmann Kautz and Luetnant Rotwald?" This doesn't make sense.

"They're nice, but Anne talks too much and Sophie is a little too perky." I couldn't help, but laugh, it was true after all. Kautz loves to talk about anything and everything and Rotwald needed to cut down on caffeine. 'I have a friend?' I wondered.

"So as your new and probably first best friend, do you want to know about me?" said asked with a smile.

"_Nein_." I said flatly.

"Huh?" Mieke said shocked.

"Today has been too much for me, tell me tomorrow when I'm rested." I said thinking about everything from this morning to now.

"Okay, I understand, but what has been too much? You can tell me?" She clearly wanted to fill in this whole 'best friend' role, whatever the hell that meant. I thought about it though, she was being nice, maybe having friends would make life ever on me. As for telling her about my day, I thought about this morning. I decided to make that a secret I'll take to the grave.

"Just pick up after yourself."

To Be Continue

* * *

Like it? Hate it? Got ideas? I misspelled something? Tell me. Well until then. 

Respectfully

J. H. Kamiya


	5. Chapter 5

Me again. I don't own H&K, Northrop-Grumman, the other planes, guns, companies, Ace Combat, etc. I don't any of it, but how cool would it be to own an F-15 or something, oh well a guy can dream. Here is the next chapter.

* * *

Chapter 5: The Calm Before the Storm

It was around noon and I just decide to place the picture of Mieke and me, which I have, in the nook beside my bed. I had to move some of my mystery, spy, and action novels and he MiG-21 bis manual. Mieke was sitting at her desk typing on her laptop while telling about her life like she promised yesterday. Not that I had a choice, but it wasn't as bad as it could have been. Listening to her talk about her life before the _Luftwaffe_ was like reading a biography, but more interesting because the person was here to tell it to me.

"My parents wanted me to be a doctor or something like that, but I wanted to something else."

"Like what?" I asked.

"I don't know. I thought about writing, but from the beginning I knew it wouldn't bring me enough money to make a living." She said a little sadly in my opinion.

"Why are you here then?" I couldn't understand why she joined the _Luftwaffe_.

"The _Wehrmacht_ was the only way I could see out and I thought flying might be fun."

I thought about that for a moment and said, "There wasn't a lot of money in my family. To have enough money to eat, the moment you turn 14 you get a job. My parents and I were so busy working we never had time to talk. I swear my mother could hardly remember giving birth to me _sigh_ well I spent my free time reading on a hill that over looks the air base near Hoffnung. With no hope for college I signed on because the _Wehrmacht_ offered the best pay and benefits for someone with only a high school degree. I also couldn't stay and be burden to my family." I said.

She looked around at me and said, "So both of us joined because we had very limited options."

"I guess so." I couldn't help, but smile. Really, her being here wasn't as bad as I thought. "Is that a story you're writing on your laptop?" I asked.

"_Ja_. I do it on the side and hope maybe I can get it published one day." She while typing away.

"Can I see?" I asked wondering what kind of story she was writing.

"_Nein_!" She shouted, while practically throwing her small body of her laptop.

"What are you writing?" I was a little confused as to why she was acting this way.

"Nothing!" She said in the same high pitch shout.

Sighing I decided to let it slide. "You want to get lunch?"

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We entered the common room and saw Krauss looking at a notice on the bulletin board. I also felt something on my back. Someone was hiding behind me.

"Hiding from Krauss, Mieke?" I asked.

"I don't like all his questions and I can't order him to shut up like you can?" She said from behind me.

"Hey Paul have you seen this!" Krauss shouted.

An official looking document was tacked on the bulletin board, it read, 'By order of _Wehrmacht_ HQ, Dinsmark, as of March 16th, 1995, 12:00 a.m. all soldiers of the _Heer_, _Kriegsmarine_, and _Luftwaffe_ are confine to there assigned bases, shipyards, barracks, and air strips.' Krauss was saying something, but I wasn't listening. I could feel the bottom of my stomach twist into knots. Lunch forgotten I ran to von Klein's office, only vaguely aware that I was dragging Mieke behind me because she was still clinging to my back.

I knocked and entered his office. He was sitting at his desk, looking a something on it, and his officer's jacket was hanging on the back of his chair. I could see the handle of a gun sticking out a little from his jacket as well as the H&K Mk. 23 he was still wearing. A small thin pipe was sitting in an ash tray on his desk. (AN: I actually own this mentioned pipe, but I don't smoke. Funny, huh, it was my grandpa's and I keep it because I think it's knida cool, but I know better than to smoke) It was a dark and messy as usual, but a map of the _S__üden_ Belka, the bordering countries, and troop positions was on his work desk. A radio was playing some song on the edge of his work desk.

_Everything so blurry and everyone so fake_

_And everyone is empty and everything is so messed up_

_Preoccupied with out you, can not live at all_

_While the world surrounds you, I stumble, then I crawl_

"When? Who? Why?" I shouted at von Klein who hadn't bothered looking at me.

"Soon, probably before the end of the month, against Ustio and the land Osea took from us, and because the government said so." He said in a calm voice without looking at me. He was looking over the invasion plans.

"What are we doing?" Mieke shyly asked from behind me. She's still me behind me?

Also without looking up he said, "You'll fly an escort mission on D-Day of the invasion for a fighter-bomber that will attack a base near the Ustian-Belkan border."

_Can you take it all the way_

_Can you take it all the way_

_When you shoved it in my face_

_The pain you gave to me_

The radio was still playing (AN: if you don't recognized the song it's Blurry by Puddle of Mudd, theme for Ace Combat Five. Great song too.).

"What kind of planes are we escorting?" I asked.

"Tornados, older model Tornados to be exacted."

_Everything is changing, nobody left that's real_

_To make your own ending let me know how you feel_

_Preoccupied without you, can not live at all_

_While the world surrounds you I stumble then I crawl_

A small ding could be heard and noticed a boiling pot on his hotplate. "Hungry?" he asked.

"_Ja_." We both said.

Von Klein placed three bowls of instant noodles on his work desk. Mieke who was no longer hiding behind and sitting in a chair next to me started eating. I started too.

"I believe you wanted to know the plans when I am able to tell you, right?" He asked after stuffing his meal down in 5 seconds. I nodded while chewing a mouth full of artificially flavored chicken noodles. (AN: ever had them, they make nice quick meals.)

He propped his boots on the corner of his desk, leaned back in his swivel chair, and gave a small, tired frown. He said seriously while looking at us, "At 0630 hours air and artillery will open up on all borders. At about 0700, one force will attack south at the 'Round Table' and seize the resources there. The main force at 0715 hours will attack the seceded Republic of Ustio and another will protect from attack coming from the Kingdom of Sapin. With most of the Osean Defense Forces rushing to the Round Table another group will reclaim Heierlark from Osea at about 1100 hours."

"What day?" I asked.

"I haven't been given an official date yet." He said quietly.

"You know though, they haven't officially told you, but always hear from else where first, right?" I said, he always seems to know.

He was silent for a while looking at his boots. "The 25th is my guess."

Mieke sighed and then said to me, "Maybe I should have been a doctor like my parents wanted."

I gave her a weak smile, "Too late for all of us to charge our minds now."

"Join the club, we got T-shirts" Von Klein said to our surprise.

"Eh?" We said together.

"I'm from _Osten_ Belka near the Ustian border. Well, when I was younger there was no Ustio and I didn't have a lot of options, be a miner, a militia fighter, or a soldier. Fight the mountains, fight against the government, or fight for the government." He said with a small tone of sadness.

In _Osten_ Belka there was a lot of fighting. The mountains made it hard for the government to control because militia fighters could run and hide so easily. Fighting lasted for year between the communist, facists, federalist, and anarcists. It ended with the secession of Ustio, but left the east very poor and in ruin. Most people lived as miners, but news of shootings continues to come from that area. (AN: That is all fictional, my idea.)

"You fought in the _Osten_ Revolt?" Mieke asked a little shocked.

"_Ja_." He whispered, "I fought. I was a spy of sorts; even then, at age 9, I was good at collecting intel. I used it to protect my follow fighters. I watched over them…"

"Like a shepherd?" Mieke interrupted. 'Of course' I thought, 'his call sign is Shepherd, a guardian of a herd, someone who watches over and protects.'

He raised an eye brow in surprise, and then gave a nod with a small smile, "_Ja_."

"… uh… does that mean you're our shepherd now?" Mieke asked sounding both nerves and hopeful.

* * *

We were now in our room. Well, Paul was in his bed reading again and I was taking a shower. It felt nice to have warm water flowing over my body. Looking down I sighed seeing my small form. 'Men had always ignored me because of my small figure' I thought with a surge of anger, 'they always looked at the girls with C and D cups'. Bastards.

I step out of the shower and dried off. I wiped some of the fog off the mirror and looked at myself. 'There are guys out there that like petite girls, where are they?' I wondered and then my shoulders drooped and I hung my head. My two brothers, dad, and now Paul were the only men in my life. Oh well, its not like I'm here to meet men.

Stepping into my white cotton panties I thought about that fact that I'd always was too shy to talk to boys in high school, or beating them up for feeling up my skirt. My legs were the only thing that men seemed to fine 'desirable' about me. I picked up my bra from the counter on top of my clothes. 'Why did I have to be such a late bloomer?' I though while looking at the small A cup. Sighing I pulled it on, noticing it was getting a little tight. 'Maybe I'm growing into a larger size' I though hopefully. (AN: Do I have to change the rating to M for this description?) I pulled a white T-shirt over my head, then my light-grey button shirt, and finally pulling up my flat grey pants. I thought about putting my flight suit half way on and tie the sleeves around my waist, but decided against it.

Stepping out of the bathroom I saw Paul looking through the stack of novels on his desk.

"Something wrong?" he asked looking at me for a moment.

"_Nein_?" I said not wanting to share my problems about my body slow and unfairly late growth.

He grinned and in a mocking imitation of me he said, "Liar."

"I don't want to talk about" I was too tired. I looked past Paul and out the window. I was would have been darker out if it wasn't for the runway lights and flood lights. Paul found a book with the title 'E is for Evidence by Susan Grafton' and pick it up. (AN: real book and author, read it if you like mystery books, but start with A is for Alibi.) He turned around, took two steps, and slipped on something. He fell on his ass and whatever he slipped on landed on his head.

"What the hell is tiny thing?" He said angrily. He pulled something white off his head and held it in front of his eyes. The color drained from his face and his green eyes grew wide in shock as he realized he was hold one of my other bras.

"TINY!" I shouted in a rage. How dare he call my bra, call me small! How dare him when I was brooding over my 'development'! I drew my right hand back in a fist and thrust it forward. He only saw it coming before it happen and he had no time to duck.

POW! BANG! I punched him in the face and sent him flying into the wall by the window. 'Ah' I thought, 'take that you insensitive… wait did I just… I just hit.'

Paul wasn't moving, a small trickle of blood came out of his nose. I screamed. "Oh my god I just hit a superior officer! Oh my god! Oh my god! Oh my god!" I panicked. Paul groaned and started to raise his head a little, I ran to him immediately. He looked at me not recognizing me, his eyes were out of focus and he was still too disoriented.

"Paul, are you okay?" I said, trying to sound sweet and covering my panic. Suddenly, his eye slide into focus showing fear and backed away from me. "Get away from me!" It took me a few moments to understand him because of his bleeding nose and panic. I gently place a tissue, that I got from his desk, on his face to wipe some of the blood away. At first he recoiled, but once he decided I wasn't going to hurt him, he let clean him up a little.

"Sorry." I said.

He was quiet for a moment and then, "Why?"

I stood up and sat on the edge of my bed, he sat in his desk chair. "Paul?" I said looking down at my feet, "Do you think I'm pretty?"

"Huh?" he said clearly very confused. Who could blame him?

"Like I said before, people always looked down on me for my small size and I don't just mean my height." I said hanging my head, but looking up at him. His expression had shifted from confusion to something serous. "Anyways" I continued, "when you pick up my… you know and you called it tiny it just… and in the bathroom I was thinking about being made fun of being a late bloomer and ignored because of it and… I don't even know what I'm saying now…" I said looking down again. Paul was silently observing me, and then he turned around and started looking through his books again.

"When I was in high school I wanted to be a physiologist, but nobody had the money to send me to college so that dream died. Anyways, even though I can't be one, I still read about physiology." He said while looking around his desk. He pulled out a book from underneath a stack and handed it to me. "Here we are, this should help."

"Understanding and Solving Inferiority Complex? What will that do for me?" I said reading the title out loud.

"Here, listen, 'an inferiority complex are not uncommon in children trying to live up to perceived standards set by parents or old siblings, people who live under overbearing employers or superiors, teenagers who arrive start puberty at a late stage in their lives' sound familiar." He said sounding a little amused. He handed it to me and then climbed the ladder to his bed. 'I guess it couldn't hurt… hurt? Hurt… uh… oh yeah?' I thought.

"Paul?" I said nervously.

"I'm not mad because I understand you've got a problem, but didn't _Herr_ Oberst or _Herr_ Major tell you not to take anything I said too personally?" He said.

"Er… _Ja_." Silence.

"I spent my time working and never spent much time thinking about girls or what attracts me so I can't really answer your question." He said carefully. "To be honest, I thought you being here would kill me and maybe I right. You were just someone there, not any more important than my other wingmen. I never really thought much about your appearance, I try not to think of you as a girl, and it's just too stressful for me. Aside from trying to give you more personal space I haven't treated you much more different until we somehow became 'best friends', whatever the hell that means." He said this all thoughtfully.

"It means we help each other out, tell each other our problems, and be there for each other during hard times." I explained.

"I guess I'll need keep you when the war starts." He said jokingly, but somehow without any real humor.

"I'm a little scared." I confessed.

"Is that why you hit me?"

"_Nein_. That's a different problem." I said looking at my chest, admittedly the uniform did hide what little I had, but then again being in tight sleazy uniform wouldn't look very professional.

"_Herr_ Hauptmann von Klein said the back in the _Osten_ Revolt the worst was before a battle. 'The calm before the storm' as he called it." Paul said sounding a little sleepy. It was getting late.

"Try and sleep were gonna practice tomorrow" he said, paused for a while thinking and then, "…… if it makes you feel better… I do think you are…"

"What?" I asked curiously.

"Er… cute." He said very quietly.

I smiled and thought, 'he can be sweet sometimes.'

"_Danke_."

"What about me?" he asked.

"_Guten natch_." I said very quickly.

"HEY! That's not fair!" He said annoyed, but I ignored him and went to sleep.

To Be Continued

* * *

Aaawww. Aren't they cute together. I laugh at myself a lot because I love violent movies and games, but I'm still a sucker for this stuff and now I'm writing this stuff. If my friends could only see me now, hee hee. I'm still open to ideas. Tell me what you think. 

Respectfully

J. H. Kamiya


	6. Chapter 6

Hi yall. It's me again. Once again I'd like to the people who are still reading my story and asked to you tell me what you think. I don't feel like rewriting what I don't own other than Ace Combat Zero, just see the previous chapters and don't sue me.

Don't think I have anything else to said for now, but enjoy this **long** chapter.

* * *

Chapter 6: March 25th, 1995

**BOOM**. I wonder what the hell that is? I sat up in bed; the book on inferiority complexes fell off my bed. I fell asleep reading it last night. While pushing my long hair out of face and trying to straighten it out a little, I slide the privacy curtain aside. I walked over to the window with nothing on, but a long light-blue T-shirt that ended at my knees and underwear underneath.

I place a finger on window shade and bent one down to look out side. I was pouring out side. It was still early and I could barely see the B-52s that were on the opposite side of the tarmac from us. A lot more planes and pilots were being stationed here.

Sleepily and walked to the bathroom and locked the door. I sat down the toilet and… well that's not your business. After I was done with that, I unlocked the door and started to brush my teeth. Paul sleepily walked in wearing a plain white T-shirt and dark blue plaid boxers. He grunted something that vaguely sounded like "_Guten morgen_" and he started to brush his teeth. We were both tired from all the training for the opening day of the invasion.

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After some time we were fully dressed, groomed, and still sleepy, we walking down the wall to get breakfast. We stumbled our way into the kitchen where Wolfgang was making something in a big pot on the stove. Whatever is was it was brown, thick, and bubbling.

I pick up two cups and filled them with coffee and placed one in front of Paul, who had his head on the table. I took a sip and let out a sigh of pleasure. Feeling more awake I look at Paul and realized he was asleep.

"Paul?"

"Zzzzzz"

I gently shook him, "Hey, Paul, wake up."

"Zzzzzz"

"I'll take care of this" Wolfgang said as set a bowl of what I now recognize as oatmeal. He pulled a spatula from a plan white apron he wore while cooking and whacked Paul with it as he yelled, "HEY! GET UP YOU LAZY ASSHOLE!"

Paul was knocked out of his chair. Slowly, he got up, saw the coffee cup I'd placed in front of him, and he drank it down. He glared at me for laughing at him and he started to eat. Soon the others walked in sleepily and started to eat. Much to my displeasure Krauss turned out to be a morning person, it was too damn early to play '21,000 questions' with him.

"Some they've been workin' us real hard for a while now, eh?" Nobody answered him, we just glared at him, really, it was too early and we were too tired. I swear I saw Sophie slowly reaching for her Korth revolver.

"So when you guys think we'll attack? What do you think it'll be like? You think we'll shoot down any enemies? DO you…" **BAM!** Krauss's eyes rolled into the back of his head and he fell forward unconscious. _Herr_ Hauptmann Joseph von Klein was standing where Krauss had been, with his H&K Mk. 23 in hand. He had just knocked out Krauss by hitting him with the grip of the gun and we'd never been so happy to see him.

"I'm just here to tell you, _Herr_ Major, that you're going to support the Kilo Fighter-Bomber Squadron tomorrow and you guys get to rest today" he said to _Herr_ Major von Klugg our squadron leader.

"Tomorrow? You mean the 25th?" _Herr_ Major asked.

"_Ja_, _mein herr_. Everyone knows what to do, right?" he said without any trace of emotion.

We all nodded; after all we spent the past week training for the invasion of Ustio. It wasn't a hard assignment, just fly an escort mission and destroy some ground targets. He reached into side his jacket and almost everyone recoiled in fear, but he only pulled out a pad of yellow sticky notes. He pulled a pen out from in between his officer's hat and the side of his head and clicked it. He wrote, 'Invasion tomorrow, you get today off, do not leave base, do not annoy too many people' and he stuck to Krauss's face.

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Paul had some stuff to mail and so did I, so the two us were going to main building on base which housed the postal office. We were walking to the make-shift garage and wearing long hooded rain coats.

"I really wish that you owned a car instead of a motorcycle" I said him because it was raining hard, though the thunder had stopped, the wind had picked up.

The ride to the main building, that served as administration, HQ, main communication, air traffic controller, and meeting build, was not a comfortable ride. We arrived, but I was freezing and rushed inside.

We both went down stairs to the mail room. A Stabsfeldwebel (AN: this is roughly a 1st sergeant/ master sergeant) was sitting at a desk.

"I'd need to send this home." I said handing him my mother's birthday present, now inside a cardboard box.

"Sorry _mein frau_. Orders are that I have to hold all out going mail until the 26th."

"I understand, but can I leave it here?"

"Of course _mien frau_." He said politely. I smiled a little at being called '_mein frau_' only NCOs (non-commissioned officers, sergeants) call me that and there weren't any in the squadron's quarters.

"Send this too when you can." Paul said dropping a letter on desk. Paul walked over to a row of mailboxes; he pulled out a key and unlocked one of them. He removed a book shaped package 'figures' and a few letters.

"Let's see… junk mail, junk mail, you may have won 1 million marks, and… one from home?" He looked at the last one with surprise. I was curious because Paul said he never gets mail from home. He opened it and scowled. It was a birthday card.

"Aawww, wasn't that nice of them?" I said, really Paul's family can't be a neglectful or forgetful as he said.

"It would have been nicer if they remembered that my birthday is in January" he sighed, "The date on here is one of my sisters' birthday." He looked resigned as though he wasn't expecting much more than this, I thought, 'maybe they are that bad'.

I opened my mailbox and saw a single letter from home. It was from my dad. 'I am proud to have a daughter fight for the glory of Belka.'

"What does you father do?" He was reading my letter from over my shoulder which wasn't for him because he was three inches taller than me.

"He's a business man." I simply state.

"So you're from high society?" he asked with a grin as though he found it funny.

"_Ja_, and it's not funny." I said crushing the letter.

The grin faded and he said, "I thought you liked your family?"

"Not my dad so much. He never really was very in tuned with what I wanted to do." I said looking at the floor.

"Like being a writer instead of a lawyer or something?" He asked, to which I nodded

An awkward silence fell on us for a while. Paul checked his watch and said, "You wanna get lunch?"

I just nodded.

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"At least the rain stopped." Paul said after lunch and waiting for the rain the stop we started back.

"_Ja_." I said still pissed.

I sat down in the sidecar like I always do and brooded. Paul started the motorcycle, but didn't head in the direction of our quarters.

"Where are we going?" I asked not really caring.

"Just a just around."

I looked at B-52s, MiG-21s, Panavia Tornado Gr.Mk 1s, and other planes. 'This is scary and… _nein_! I will not be weak or a coward.' I thought.

"Paul, are you scared?"

"… _ja_. I guess we all are." He said thoughtfully. That, for some reason made me feel a lot better. Paul stopped the bike and he looked up into the sky, eyes wide in amazement. Huge grey clouds covered almost all the sky with a big break in the clouds just over the base showing a bright orange sky.

"A war starts in about 12 hours from now, it just doesn't seem real" Paul said, "look… forgot about your dad, I don't know what your problem is with him, but it won't tomorrow. I mean, how can't it compared to what we're being asked to do?"

* * *

It was a long evening. The evening was follow by a long night before I could sleep. Mieke was asleep in her bed, she seem a little happier after our talk. 'I kind of like talking to her and it's nice to think she'll always be there… wait… I could die… she could die…" Death, I'd never thought much about, but it felt now so huge and overwhelming. Fear poured in on me and I felt so small and weak. For the first time I wish I had a parent or someone to hold me and tell, 'me everything is going to be okay'. I couldn't sleep now, there's too much to… 

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A trumpet sounded over the PA system and I sat up suddenly. Mieke must have done the same because I heard and felt her bang her head against my bunk. I'm surprised she's tall enough to hit her head.

We pulled on our cloths, she being in the bathroom of course, our light-grey button shirts, flat grey pants, and flight suits. I pressed the clip release on my Sig P-226, seeing that the clip was fully loaded I pop it back in, pulled the slide bolt, and chambered a round. I locked the safety and placed it in my holster.

We quickly left our room; carrying our flight helmets we entered the common room. Everyone, including von Klein, were sitting or standing around. Static could be heard from the PA. Soon an unfamiliar official sounding voice started giving a speech from HQ.

"Soldiers of the proud _Wehrmatch_ of the Principality of Belka, _guten morgen_. For years now, Belka suffered. The weak Federalists failed to protect us, failed to protect you from economic collapse, crumpling of law and order, and worst of all they failed to protect Belka from foreign tyranny. Belka has suffered from the weak Federalists, traitorous rebels in the east, foreigners stealing our land, and the embarrassment of being the laughing stock of the world. Today, March 25th, 1995, the world will no longer laugh at the might Belka. Today we show the world they cannot ignore us! Today they will hear our voices, that of a new and great Belkan Empire! FOR BELKA!" The voice had grown louder with each sentence.

Many people found the speech exhilarating and were cheering, I was confused. I knew countries like Ocea were taking advantage of Belka, they did take some of the western territories, and we got the raw end of many deals, but it some of it seemed extreme. Oh well, too late to stop now. Looking around I saw that most everyone was rallied by the speech, but Mieke looked like she was going to be sick from anxiety, one of the pilots in C flight who looked confused like I was, and von Klein who was in a corner looking unimpressed by the speech, but I saw something like an angry fire in eyes. He was also holding his pipe tighter then necessary.

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"Blau Squadron, B flight, please stand by. Over." An air traffic control said. Freiman, Krauss, Mieke, and I were lining up on the runway 02. It was a big runway, large enough for a 4 plane flight to launch simultaneously. "Blau 05, I copy. Over."

I could see A flight in the stance, having launch before us, and I could C flight on the taxiway behind us. "Blau Squadron, B flight, you are clear for launch. Good luck. Over"

"Rodger and _danke_ tower. Blau 05, Blue Raven, launching."

"Blau 06, Question Mark, launching."

"Blau 07, Grey Wolf, launching.

"Blau 08, Tempest, launching.".

We were raced down the runway gaining speed rapidly. Once we reached about 150 mph we started to climb. 'So far, so good' I thought.

"This is Blue Raven, were climbing to 8,000 ft, do a final check, and we'll assemble up with the others up there. Over"

"_Jawohl_." We all answered.

"_Sehr gut_."

At about 8,000 ft I pulled behind Mieke to look over her plane while Freiman did the same for Krauss. I could see the four hardpoints (AN: also known as a pylons), two holding three sidewinder each, the other holding one Hydra 70 multi-rocket pod each (AN: I don't think that's the right name, but it's a cylinder that fires several unguided missiles). Her droppable fuel tank under the MiG seemed to be secure.

"Your plane looks fine Tempest. Over." I said satisfied her plane was safe. She rolled under me to check my plane.

After a few seconds she said, "Everything seems fine Grey Wolf. Over." She pulled back into formation

"This is Blau Leader, all Blau flights form up on me." Said _Herr_ Major von Klugg.

We were now flying in a finger four with Frieman in front, me to his right and slightly behind him, Krauss on his left and level with me, and Mieke on my right and slightly behind me.

(AN: this is the standard finger four formation created by German pilots during World War II and quickly adopted by other nations after the war. Before many people flew in formations of 3 or 5 planes. Basically the most experienced pilot is flight lead and is in front. The second most experienced pilot flies to the side of the flight lead. Then the wingmen for these two pilots fly on opposite sides of the formation and a little behind their wing leaders. This makes a sort of V. It's a very common formation, especially in NATO.)

I could see A flight on our left and C flight on our right. 1,000 ft blow was Kilo Squadron and 800 ft above was von Klein who was joining us for the opening day of fighting. He angled his plane so he could move to the side and see us at the side time. This showed me an insignia of a man in a dark brown trench coat, a grayish-blue Greek fishermen's hat cocked over his eyes, and dark pants. The man was also holding a shepherd's staff in his left hand and a Winchester 1898 trench shotgun in his right and the barrel resting on his shoulder. 'Nice to think he's watching over us' I thought.

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We were almost at the border. I could feel the tension building. Along the way I'd seen numerous other squadrons flying in various directions. The magnitude of what was happening and the fact it was about to start for me was making me shake a little. Every other minute I checked to my right to make sure Mieke was still there. She was still there of course, but I kept checking anyways.

"_Achtung_! This is AWACS Looking Glass. Kilo and Blau Squadrons you will be operating under me today. Enemy activity has been low as of now; they seem not to realize that they are under attack. Kilo, engage enemy border guard unit to allow our ground forces to advance via the highway below, Blau, support is you can, but your main mission is to provide fighter cover. Over."

"_Jawohl_, Looking Glass. Kilo engaging. Out." Said Kilo leader.

"Blau engaging. Out" said our leader.

"B flight, go clean. Over" Freiman ordered.

"_Jawohl_." We said dropping our external tanks.

I watched as Panavia Tornado Gr.Mk 1, armed with cluster bombs or conventional bombs under the fuselage and AGM-65 Mavericks under their wings, descend onto the likely unsuspecting Ustians. We pulled behind A flight, forming a line of two planes followed by two more.

"Blau Leader here, once we get to the river break up and engage at will. Do not use your sidewinders and try to save your guns for hostile fighters. Over"

We were descending into a valley, with a decent sized river in the middle. The river is in Ustio and I saw a border gate below us with a highway leading across the river into the mountains. On the other side of the river, along the highway denying the Belkan _Heer_ access to this route, was a small army base that was our target. We were angling towards the base while Kilo squadron moving low parallel to the highway. The others were breaking off on in odd directions looking for targets. I saw a small explosion on bridge and realized that our tanks and Ustian tanks were fighting there.

"Tempest, there hostile tanks blockading our tanks. Tally Oh on their armour." I said.

"_Jawohl_, Grey Wolf." Mieke said as we moved heading north along the river in on a company of old Leopard 1s. (It should be noted that as a former part of Belka, Ustio may use some of the same equipment, at least in my mind) A few more seconds. "Firing" (Anyone know the code word for firing an unguided missile/rocket?) I pressed the a button on my stick to fire a burst from multi-rocket pod. Three rockets flew from the Hydra 70s, I immediately broke right to let Mieke have a shot.

"Grey Wolf! Hostile AA on the northeast side of the bridge!" She was right and I felt my heart stop. A Bofors 40 mm L/70 was in a clearing on the Ustian side of the bridge. I started to descent and then pulled up into a helix while a small burst came at me, but too low and missed. Mieke broke off from the tanks and fired two rockets at the AA gun.

"Scratch an AA. You're clear Grey Wolf." Said sounding just as relieved as I felt.

"_Danke_, Tempest. Were making a second past, so form up. Over." We wheeled around now facing south. I destroyed a Leopard 1 and badly damaged a M113 Garvin APC. Mieke had taken out an L/70 AA gun and so I was thinking this was going well.

"Space out a little so you can fire too." I told her.

"_Jawohl_." Mieke said firmly, it sounded like some confidence was returning to her.

I fired off four rockets, moved to the side a little, and fire three more rockets. I saw two tanks, an APC, and a few various vehicles I couldn't identify blow up. I did a rough estimate of the number rockets I had left. 'I fire 3 on the first pass and 7 on the second, that's 10 out of 14 70mm rockets' I calculated, 'I've got 4 rockets, 400 23mm rounds, and 6 sidewinder air to air missiles. I should be okay.'

"Tempest, how's your ammo?"

"Winchester on rockets. Full on everything else."

"Okay I still got a few…"

"Looking Glass here" a voice interrupted, "Bandits detected. 5 flights in ladder position coming low along the river, vector 355. ETA 3 minutes. Over" (that means 5 flights, one flight following the next, roughly heading north, vector 360/0 is north, 090 is west, 180 south, 270 east)

"Understood. A flight will engage head on, B flight will make the same approach above us, and C flight will break off and engage from the east. Over" Order

"B flight, _jawohl_." Freiman said.

"C flight, _jawohl_." _Herr_ Hauptmann Anne Kautz, C flight leader.

"AWACS bogey dope. " I requested. (bogey dope is a request for info on a target or threat)

"Bandits identified as Ustion Air Force planes, they appear to be F-5E Tiger II or F-20A Tigersharks. Speed is 670 knots, altitude is 1,100 ft."

"Shepherd here" said a familiar voice, but for once he didn't sound weary or tired. He sounded alert and very much awake; maybe even a little more alive than normal. "That will be the Ustian 43rd Interceptor Squadron. They operate out of a small air strip south us here. Five flights eh? That's their entire squadron, they fly Tigersharks and use M39 20mm cannons and AIM-9 sidewinders. Everyone understand?"

"_Ja_ and _danke_ Hauptmann." Said Looking Glass.

I follow Hauptmann Freiman, with Mieke and Krauss trailing, and Hauptmann von Klein past us in a steep climb. Leveling off at 2,000 ft I could see the bandits, but only seemed to have noticed A flight and I could see C flight circling low behind the bandits.

"Tally oh on those bandits." Order Freiman. He rolled right and dived down. We followed. Freiman and Krauss moved in on the second flight and Mieke and I moved in on the third flight. A beeping tone sounded and two green target symbols circled around on my HUD. They merged and turned red on the flight lead and a loud solid tone rang through my cockpit.

"Fox Two" One of my sidewinders flew off the rack, but I realized too late that at this angle they could easily avoid it. To my shock the Tigershark moved into the path of my missile, probably trying to engage me. I saw his left wing get ripped off and his plane fall like a rock.

"Grey Wolf, Splash One."

The flight lead's wingman was now engaging me at full afterburner. I heard a buzzing and the word 'warning' appeared on my HUD; he was trying to get a lock on me. 'At his and my combine speed though he should come in gun range soon.' I though. He did get in gun range before he could get a lock on me. He fired a burst of 20 mm, but I rolled under the tracers and fired my 23mm which ripped through the bottom of his plane and I saw him go past me. Looking behind me briefly I saw the pilot eject.

"Splash Two." I said with excitement in my voice, two planes and not a scratch. The third and forth plane were now closing on us.

"I can I have a shot?" Mieke asked.

"Sure." I rolled over behind her giving her the lead. "I'm on your right now, fire when ready."

"Fox Two, Fox Two." Mieke said firing two missiles. She nailed the one in the nose destroying it completely, the second missile didn't explode and tore a small piece off the other planes tail.

"Tempest, Splash One, Shack on a target." The other plane flew away and escaped the battle. I looked down river and stared as von Klein came behind the next flight. He swung in behind them, jinked right firing a burst of 23 mm destroying three of the planes, then reversed his turn, and destroyed the fourth with a missile. I happen so fast the I wonder if I imagined it.

"Tempest did you see what Shepherd just did?" I asked still shocked.

"_Ja_, I did" she said sounding just as shocked as me.

"Picture clear. All bandits down or retreating." Looking Glass said happily.

"This is Kilo leader, Winchester on all ordinance. Enemy barrack and facilities are burning. All and all I say mission complete. All Kilo planes RTB."

"This is the 11th Panzer Battalion, bridge secure and were advancing into Ustio. We'll reclaim it as part of the Fatherland again. _Danke_ for the support. We should be okay for now. Over and out."

"Blau Leader here, I think our job is done. Well rendezvous with a tanker craft, then head home."

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I popped off my mask and removed my helmet. I took a deep breath, waited for my hands to stop shaking, and the open my canopy.

Once on the tarmac I felt my knee buckle, walking felt so weird after being in the air for so long. I staggered my way to Mieke's plane. She wasn't doing much better than me and was leading on her plane for support. Her face was covered with sweat and her hair matted to her face. Judging by the looked she gave me, I wasn't looking much better and I could feel my clothes sticking to my body.

She took a few steps towards me, wobbled, and started to fall forward, but I caught her under her arms first.

She looked up at me and I said jokingly, "good thing you aren't that heavy."

She smiled nervously or maybe devilishly because adrenaline was still running through her body. "I think I need a shower" stood up and wrinkle her nose, "and so do you."

"How can you tell? You were an arms length away from me at the least." I said mockingly as though I was offended. I couldn't care less I was still happy we were both still alive.

* * *

We were walking back. Paul didn't really stick that much, but I was happy we both survived. Even though we only known each other for a month I couldn't imagine my life with out him reading in a corner near me or walking with me pretending to listen to me. Or those moments rare moment when he showed he could be compassionate. He was a good friend, but then again I haven't had a lot of friend to compare him to. 

_Herr_ Hauptmann von Klein walked pasted us with his pipe in his mouth. He took it out and said, "good flying today, but don't get cocky. You not superman."

He looked at us for a moment and slowly said, "Did you both see a town when the squadron refueled?"

"Was it on a mountain slope, surrounded by coal mines, and looked like it was bombed a long time ago? It looked like a hellhole."

He gave a cold bark of a laugh. "That's a pretty good description actually. That was the hellhole that once upon a time I called… home." He nodded, put the pipe back in his mouth, and walk back to his office lie nothing happened.

"Right then, I shower first." Paul said after several minutes.

"Oh sure, but… HEY! I should shower first!"

"Why?"

"Cause I'm a lady."

"So? I out rank you."

And so it went on like that. It was nice to still be here, but will we both still be here next time? I looked up at the sky and felt so small.

* * *

Okay I know that was long, but I couldn't stop writing and I didn't want to put off their first battle. Hope ya'll liked it and please review. 

Respectfully

J. H. Kamiya


	7. Chapter 7

Hi, how ya'll today. I like to thank my readers for still reading my story, THANK YOU. I know this is supposed to be a romance, but I'm taking my time with that, but I'm going to get started here. I don't own Ace Combat or any of the planes, guns, tanks, etc. Please review; I really would like to here someone's opinion.

* * *

Chapter 7: Boredom and then Attraction

"Scheißen I'm bored. I wish they let us go to town." I said angrily as we walked down the hall to the common room.

"But you hate going into town." Mieke said amused my outburst.

"_Ja_, but I've got nothing to read now and I can't order a book because they're holding our mail for 'security reasons'."

"Well… we could talk."

"Great" I said sarcastically. She smiled at that. 'At least one of us is having fun' I though.

"We could hang out in _Herr_ Hauptmann von Klein's office." She suggested.

"But you're scared of him." I pointed out.

She pouted, "I'm getting over that. He isn't so bad."

"That's nice to hear." Said a weary voice behind us. Mieke shriek and rapped her arms around me in a panic. She looked behind us and nervously said, "_Guten morgen_ _Herr_ Hauptmann."

"Mi… Mieke… I… can't… breathe." I barely manage to say. I was amazed that her small form that looked so fragile and weak could be so powerful. I also notice how soft and warn she was and how nice she smelt. I'd never been held, or strangled for that matter, but it felt a tingling sensation and I knew wasn't because I losing air. I started to squirm because this strange sensation was making me feel uncomfortable and I was getting dizzy from lack of oxygen.

"Ruhrman as cute as you two looked together, I think you need to release your wing leader before you strangle him and if he dies I will have no choice, but to report you" von Klein said sounding slightly amused.

She realized what she was doing and released me. I fell to the floor gasping for air.

"Paul I'm so sorry. _Herr_ Hauptmann surprised me. Are you okay?" she said very quickly, her cheeks were a little pink. I staggered to my feet using the wall for support.

"You two bored?" Von Klein asked.

"It's not like we have any work." I said.

"What do you expect? We're an auxiliary squadron; we're only need when there aren't other squadrons around. I'm the only one who works most of the time" He said with a shrug.

It was true. Today is the 28th and it's been three days since our first and so far last mission.

"Is the attack on the Heierlark still delayed?" Mieke asked curiously.

"_Ja_, Oseans didn't launch a counter offensive as fast as we thought. HQ thought most of the Osean Self-Defense Forces would be deployed to the Round Table region faster than they did." He said sounding a little annoyed with HQ.

"So what's going on?" I asked deciding to join the conversation.

"Heavy fighting is going on in the Round Table on the land and in the air. The Oseans are pretty disorganized so they won't last long. Sapin is putting up a fight, but our forces are holding their own on the defensive. The invasion of Ustio is going well, but the mountains make the advance slow. There are only some many routes and the Ustians set up their lines there. Also reports say that Osean is asking Yuktobania to join the fighting in an alliance against Belka."

"Do you think we'll take the Ustian capitol soon?" Mieke asked.

"If the _Heer_ keeps up their current pace they should take it in a week or two. It doesn't look like Osea, Yuktobania, or Sapin will not be able to reinforce the Ustions in time."

We were now in front of his office and he opened the door for us. I enter and Mieke kept close behind me as usual.

"I thought you said you weren't scared of me?" Von Klein asked sounding very amused by Mieke's of being uncomfortable. "Or is it that you just like being so close to Vogel?" He said with much to my shock a sly smile. He was never like this; clearly he found something highly entertaining. As for me, I could feel my face burn and I sensed Mieke edging away from me in embarrassment.

"You're enjoying this, aren't you?" Mieke said annoyed.

He grinned showing slightly yellow teeth and one fake tooth, "What can I say. Even I have to have a little bit of fun." He sat down at his desk and we sat in front of it. He started to show us the enemy positions on a map he'd left on his desk.

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"As I was saying, the Ustians are getting desperate and are now hiring mercenaries to fight. This includes mercenary pilots and some of them are skilled aces from other wars. So far no one particularly dangerous has appeared, but I'm just gonna keep an eye out. You never know when someone will blindside ya." Von Klein said.

I checked my watch and said, "We're gonna try and get lunch now."

He nodded, "I need to get back to work anyways. Oh and I think you're going to get an assignment soon."

We left the office and headed to the kitchen. I opened the refrigerator. There wasn't anything, but mustard, ketchup, and half a bag of sandwich bread. I closed it and did some thinking about what else we could do.

"You want to go to the main building and get something to eat in the main cafeteria?" Mieke asked me. With no better idea I nodded and we both headed for my motorcycle.

I sat down and watched as Mieke tied her hair up. I began to appreciate how nice and shiny her long dark brown, almost black hair was. I also admired her smooth skin kinda glowed and the small freckles on her face look sweet and innocent and… WHAT THE HELL AM I THINKING!?!

"Paul?" said a soft voice to my right.

"I'M SORRY! I DON'T KNOW WHAT I WAS THINKING!" I yelled quickly in a panic.

"Eh?" Mieke said confused by my behavior, "I just wanted to know if you were ready."

"Oh… right" I said very embarrassed. I pulled my goggles down from over my helmet and over my eyes. I started the engine and we headed for the cafeteria in the main building. 'I know I haven't had any friends before Mieke, but I know these feelings aren't normal at all' I thought as I drove. I sighed, 'Maybe it's just that I'm bored and don't have enough to do.'

* * *

Paul and I were sitting at a table in the cafeteria eating out of trays. Taking another bite of beef stew I looked at him. He was acting very strange today. Maybe it was because I almost suffocated him earlier. I hadn't meant to, but now did I think about it I was surprised how thin he was. It was hard to tell just by looking at the uniform. He didn't have big muscles bulging on him, he was lanky with some smaller muscles. Actually even though I grabbed him was from the side, he still warm and kind of comforting and he smelled nice and… wait… how did I started on this? 

I poked at a chunk of potato in my stew while I thought. I looked up at Paul who seemed very determined to stare at his food and only his food. I looked at his face, his hair was short neat brown, he was clean shaven, and there was a small bump on his nose from when I punched him, but it still looked fine and mostly straight. His overall frame was handsome and… I really need to find something to do.

I sighed and continued eating.

"Hey guys what's up" said a familiar perky voice that made me groan.

"Hello Krauss" Paul and I both said unenthusiastically and not looking up from our food.

"What are you doing?" said sitting down next to me.

"Eating" We both said again.

"Mind if I join you?"

"_Ja_." He sat down anyways like we said nothing, which we might as well have done.

"Wanna hang out later?"

"_Nein_."

"Why not? What else do you have to do? I am I annoying or something? And why were you staring at Paul, Mieke?"

I spat the cup of some kind of juice that I was drinking into Paul's face. I stare at a grinning Krauss. He started punching me teasingly in my shoulder.

"Come on, you can tell me." Krauss said. I was about to get up and leave my tray at the counter when one of Krauss's punches went too low.

"What the…?" His fist had made on contact with one of my breasts.

"Wow, you have a tiny cup size, don't you?" He said pressing his fist against my chest.

I Paul heard duck under the table for cover while I instantly grabbed my tray sending a fork, knife, and the remainder of my food flying. I hit Krauss in the side of his face and sent him flying over three tables. He was unconscious, but didn't care. Paul cautiously peeked out from under the table, once he saw it was safe he got out from under. He went around the table, grabbed my arm, and pulled me out of the cafeteria.

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"Mieke I understand that it makes you made when someone makes you feel er… small, but you shouldn't attack other pilots." Paul lectured as we walked down a hall lined with windows. I couldn't believe he was telling me what to do. Who does he think his is, the boss of me?

"Don't glare at me like that, I out rank you and I have every right to tell you what to do. Krauss should be punished for touching you, but you should have given him a chance to apologize."

"Give him a chance to what?!" I shouted indigently. He stopped, sighed, and looked out a window on to the main runway.

"Krauss isn't that smart… and it probably didn't occur to him that he wasn't doing anything wrong." He said shaking his head.

I looked out the window too. I turned my head to him and said angrily, "It still doesn't make it right."

"I guess it doesn't." Paul agreed. He started walking again, but looked at my reflection in the window. I cupped my breast with my hands and tried to see if it made them look any bigger, I sighed not impressed by the effect.

"Paul do you think my chest is too small?" I asked wearily, still looking at my reflection.

"Huh, WHA?!" I heard a crush and looked to my left. Paul had just tripped and fallen on his face. He rolled over, scrabbled to his feet, and tried to speak, but failed.

After several unsuccessful attempts to speak, he sighed and finally said, "Mieke… I uh… haven't really looked at your… er you know and… I… um… 'sigh' look, you look fine, just be happy with own appearance, like me."

Annoyed by his cliché like answer, I said, "Easy for you to say. You're not small in almost every possible interpretation of the word. You…"

"How do I look?" Paul asked.

"Huh?" I said caught off guard by the question.

"How do I look? I asked you once, but you never answered. I've never really thought about how I look and never let it bother me, but I just… you know wonder because it seems important to you and I wonder if I should worry too." He said curiously.

I looked him over. He was average height, thin, slightly built, clean shaven, and short brown hair. I looked into his green eye that almost seemed electrified; I felt my heart skip a beat and my mind go blank.

"Mieke?"

"You know let's forget you and get back on topic." I said quickly walking past him. I looked over my shoulder and saw him chase after me yelling for an answer, but I couldn't tell him what I really thought.

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We were in our room again, still on this appearance subject.

"Look, it's hard to tell because of the uniform you know. So it's not like I can tell easily."

"Okay, I guess that's a fair statement." I had to agree with that, the uniform was pretty conservative. I started to remove my officer's jacket.

"Hey! What the hell are you doing?" I panicked.

"Relax."

"But…"

"I said relax! We're settling this now!" I said as I'm started to unbutton my shirt.

"But I'm not the one who makes fun of you." He said desperately.

"I know and I know you will give me an honest answer. Plus you're my best friend." I said taking off my button collared shirt.

"I may have not had friends before, but this doesn't seem like a best friend's job!" He said almost begging. I pulled off the white T-shirt to relieve my bare stomach and a dark grey sports bra.

"Well?"

He didn't answer. His green eyes widen, his jaw dropped, and face started to turn red.

"Paul? You there?"

"Hello?" Mieke said.

* * *

I couldn't answer her. My mouth just didn't seem to want to work. I could see her flat stomach, her curves, her smooth skin, and I could now make out her hips. I knew nothing about cup sizes so I didn't know what her chest size was. However, I could see them, they weren't huge, but they were a decent size. Mieke was… attractive… very attractive. 

"Paul! Come on, answer me!"

I twitched and feel control returning to me. I shifted uncomfortably, shuffled my feet, and looked around the room. I subtly adjusted my pants because… well that's not important.

"Mieke… you… have nothing to worry about." I said very nerves.

She seemed satisfied, at last, and smiled a little. "_Danke_."

She leaned down to pick up her white T-shirt while I admired her smooth straight back. She pulled it on, I noticed that the T-shirt clung fairly close to her body and I could still make out her figure. When Mieke put her light-grey buttoned shirt I saw that it hund loosely, effectively hiding her figure.

"I'm going for coffee, do you want any?" She said leaving the room.

"_Ja_." I crocked. She nodded and started to leave the room.

She stopped and with her back to me she said, "Um… to answer your question there are many girls in the world who would find you attractive." She quickly left.

The moment the door closed my knees gave and I fell to them. Putting my right hand on the desk and my left on my chair, I pulled myself into my chair.

"Now I know what kind of girl I find attractive" I said to myself.

Shaking my head I said to myself, "I don't know what those guys that make fun of Mieke's figure are thinking, they just have no appreciation for her or her body. At least I can appreciate her, but… now what to I do?" How had this boring day turned into this? I wanted something exciting, but I'm not sure if this is what I want. She is cute though... and pretty... and beautiful... and... ALL RIGHT SHE'S SEXY, but she's just a friend, right? Like I said before, I may have not had friends before, but I know this isn't how a friend should feel.

* * *

Okay I finally got around to the romance part of my story. I don't know if I need to increase my content rating, but better safe then sorry. Hope you enjoyed it. Hey if you feel sorry for Krauss, hate him, or wonder what the hell his purpose is, he is just there to be annoying and provoke angry responses from everyone else. So hate or pity him, I don't care. I you got more ideas of what I can do to him let me know? Please review and have a nice day. 

Respectfully

J. H. Kamiya


	8. Chapter 8

It's me again. Seriously, who else could it be? Actually… don't answer that. Well I doubt anyone would be surprised by the fact that I still don't own Ace Combat, H&K, BMW, MiG, Northrop-Grumman, etc. I'd also like to take my usual moment to thank the people how are still reading my story; you guys are great for putting up with me. Well, here is chapter 8. Also if a Mr. K.D. is reading this, hi.

* * *

Chapter 8: Acceptation

"Today, the 30th, we will attack an Ustian defensive position here on the map" said _Herr_ Major von Klugg point to somewhere in northwestern Ustio with a laser pen. "Grau and Braun Squadrons will provide the ground attack runs and we'll provide the main fighter cover. We also must make sure that we protect our amour from enemy fighter-bombers. Here on the forward slope of this mountain is number of Ustian AT guns and machine gun positions. The rocks should provide the enemy with decent cover, but Grau and Braun should be any to deal with this. Any questions? _Nein_? Well then I will turn this over to you von Klein."

Von Klugg stepped down from the platform he was standing on and hand von Klein the laser pen. Mieke, Krauss, everyone else, and I were staring at a screen that a projector was… well… projecting images of the battle plans.

Von Klein started talking in his usual serious emotionless voice, "Triple A threats will include surface to air missiles, light rapid fire AAs, heavy flak guns, and, of course, fighter planes. Osean built MIM-72/M48 Chaparral seems to be their main SAM. Bofors 40 mm L/70 are their main AA guns. You guys aren't really going near the ground defenses, so worry about the fighters and hostile air support. Fighter planes will likely F-4s and F-5s. There is also a squadron of A-4M Skyhawk II are in the area and may attack our amour. Keep an eye out for them and shoot them down. You guys just need to keep above and out of the bombing runs and watch for hostile planes, understand?"

"_Jawohl_" everyone shouted together.

He nodded, "_Sehr gute_." He stepped down and left the room.

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I just finished suiting up and sat down at my desk waiting for Mieke. I noticed a book in a bag that I'd left on my desk. I'd forgotten about picking it up from town when we were allowed a 6 hour leave. Pulling it out, I opened my brand new copy of 'The Science to Understanding Attraction and Relationships'. Being the logical person I am, I decided I needed answers to what I was feeling towards Mieke. I began to read the first chapter when I heard the bathroom door being unlocked. I tossed the book on my bed out of sight and tried to look calm.

"Ready?" I asked.

"_Ja_" she answered.

* * *

I followed Paul down the tarmac to our planes. Paul hasn't been acting like himself lately. Truth be told, I haven't been myself lately either. I'd never wanted to be close to other people very much, but I wanted to be very close to Paul. I couldn't understand why though. I even tried stealing some of Paul's psychology books and reading what they had to say about 'human interaction'. Unfortunately, Paul doesn't seem to own books on attraction. Oh well, I've got more important things to worry about right now. 

I climbed into the 08 plane and closed the canopy. I turned on the power and started the ignition. Hearing the noise of the turbine and the jet engine roaring to life I let my plane warm up. I checked to see if everything was ready. Fuel, power, radar, hydraulics, controls, weapon systems, ammo, targeting systems, and everything else are in the green.

"B flight, move into the taxiway. Over."

I waited for Freiman, Krauss, and Paul pull forward and then followed. I saw Braun Squadron's Tornados take off on runway 02. Up headed A flight started to move onto the runway and we stopped on the taxiway waiting for our turn. A flight sped down the runway and after a few seconds we took up position on the runway.

"Blau Squadron, B flight, you're clear for take off. Over." Said someone in the tower.

"_Jawohl_, B flight is off. Over and out." Said _Herr_ Hauptmann Freiman.

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Blau Squadron flights' were in finger four. A flight was on our left and C flight was on our right. (AN: This is called a wall. Where the ladder in a few flights following each other, the wall is a few flights next to next to each other.) We were 20,000 ft in the air with Braun and Grau 1,000 ft below us. Braun was in front with their MiG-21s in wall like us and their Tornados trailing behind their Fishbeds; also in a wall. Grau was 500 yards behind them in the same formation. Their Fishbeds were loaded with AIM-9 sidewinders and Hydra 70 rocket pods. Their Tornados were loaded with AGM-65 Mavericks and CBU-87 cluster bombs. We were packing AIM-9 sidewinders on all four of our pylons making a total of 12 missiles for us.

I was enjoying the view of snow covered mountains. Even in spring, it was still cold and often snowed in Belka, Ustio, and Sapin. Being from Dinsmark, the capitol in the northern part of Belka, I wasn't bothered too much by the cold weather. According to my tacmap we were just crossing the border into Ustio. I looked up only to see clouds. Von Klein wasn't with us; he was at the base looking into reports on a mercenary flying a red and silver F-15.

"_Achtung_, this is AWACS Looking Glass. ETA to combat zone is 5 minutes. All aircraft make a final equipment check. Over." Said the AWACS.

Looking over my HUD and panel I determined that nothing was wrong and reported I was ready. We began to descend towards the ground. I could see a valley ahead. The mountain on the opposite sloped gently up; I recognized it as the one the enemy was supposed to have dug into. Getting closer I could see our tanks and ACPs getting ready for their assault. Judging by the battle scarred ground I guessed this wasn't the first attack.

"ETA 60 seconds. All aircraft go clean now. Over" Ordered our AWACS.

"Going clean" everyone shouted almost at the same time. (AN: Going clean means that a plane is dropping their disposable fuel tank from their pylon.)

I saw Braun and Grau descend onto the battlefield while we stayed couple thousand feet above watching for fighters. My radio was picking up pieces of chatter from the ground troops on both sides in addition to Braun and Grau.

"_Achtung_, Blau Squadron we have in coming fighters. About 36 Phantoms closing from vector 262. Altitude 9,500. Speed mach 1. Engage and destroy. Over." Looking Glass order. We immediately turned to engage the fighters coming from the southeast. B flight was coming from 7,000 ft to attack the enemy from behind and under.

"Fox Two." Someone yelled.

"Rader Spike." Someone else yelled in a panic.

"Scheißen! Missile shot trashed! OH NO he's firing!"

I knew the others were already engaging above us. I saw _Herr_ Hauptmann Freiman pulled up in full afterburners and we followed. I could see were coming right behind a group of unsuspecting Phantoms. A tone started beep as my plane started to lock on a Phantoms. The tone became loud and solid and turned red on my HUD.

"Fox Two!" I yelled.

"Missile? Where?! Where…?" The enemy pilot's radio was cut off as my missile plowed into his tail, destroying his plane. I fired to more missiles and destroyed two more planes. A forth had realized I was there and tried to escape, but Paul blew his wing off with one of his missiles.

Suddenly I saw a tracer fly past my cockpit and I jinked right. A small buzzing sounded and I knew someone was trying to lock onto me. My HUD suddenly light up red, the buzzing became loud and constant, and my heart stopped. A missile.

"Tempest! Drop counter-measures and jink left!" A voice shouted in cold panic.

Suddenly I came to my senses and I pressed a button for my flare. I immediately jinked left and started to dive.

"Splash Two" shouted the same voice, sounding more relieved at getting the planes off me.

"Tempest!" I realized that the voice was Paul's and he sounded pissed, "WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU DOING!?! You could've died! You could have…" His voice trailed off and I thought I heard a sob.

In a pleading voice Paul said, "Please, be a little more careful."

"Sorry, and I will." I said guiltily. After my heart rate slowed down I realized that…

"Grey Wolf that was your fourth and fifth kill. You're an ace."

"Huh?"

"You made ace."

"Oh… you just one more right?"

"_Ja_."

"Here come more planes. Take your shot, but be careful." He rolled over and behind me, giving me the lead. I saw two planes on someone's tail below us. I dived with Paul behind me. My plane started to acquire a target when he broke right. I follow, but lost a lot of speed in a high-G turn. He was too close for a missile, but for guns…

"Guns." I said after lining up the Phantom. I saw the tail rip apart and the engine die. I rolled to the side to avoid crashing into the F-4.

"He bailed" Paul said, I could tell something was really bothering him.

I said, "_Danke_."

"This is the 4th Panzer Regiment, our fighter-bombers have finished their runs and we're beginning our attack over." The ground forces are now starting to advance. Suddenly to the north, I notice planes flying low at our tanks.

"AWACS, this is Blau 08, I've sighted hostile planes from the north. Bogey dope. Over."

"What the…? Scheißen! Incoming hostile fighter-bombers. Closing 360 at 600 knots. Engage now!" Looking Glass yelled. We all turned to the north to meet the Skyhawks that von Klein warned us about. We hit afterburners to get them before they could attack our amour.

"Tally oh on those bandits. Over" Order _Herr_ Major von Klugg.

"Fox Two! Fox Two!" I said firing two missiles. Both of them missed. I fired my guns as the Skyhawks and I passed each other. 'I think I damaged one' I thought.

Turning around and pulling into formation with Freiman, Krauss, and Paul I waited for a missile to lock.

"Fox two!" That time it did hit. I saw the pilot bail out just in time to avoid burning alive in a fireball. A burst of guns took out his wingman. I felt a pang of guilt as I saw he failed to bail out. Looking for more targets I saw the few remaining planes were retreating.

"Picture clear. Enemy planes are retreating. All aircraft RTB. Over and out."

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I was in my room. I striped off my flight suit and tossed it aside. Final count for our flight was Freiman: 8, Krauss: 5, Paul: 6, and me: 7. I smile at that, I beat Paul… where was he? I heard the door behind me slam and someone grabbed me and wheeled me around.

"YOU!" He yelled for some reason.

"Huh?" I couldn't understand why he was mad at me.

"You froze up today!" he yelled shaking me.

I was scared. I never had seen him show this much emotion, let alone anger. "I'm sorry, I panic" I stammered. He took a deep breath and his rage was replaced by something else. He seemed to be deflating.

"You know who scared I was? Your very important to…me, you know?" His voice trailed off. He looked down at the floor, his hands still on my shoulders. He started to slump and I could see he was calming down some, but he still was very upset. I didn't know what to say. I couldn't help, but be a little flattered by the fact he care that much.

I gently said, "I'm sorry. I'm not dead. I'm still here. Everything will be okay."

The next thing I knew Paul had pulled me into a hug. One of his hands on the back of my head, the other around my back. I rested my head on his chest and waited for him to say something. 'He smelled nice, I like resting my head like this, I don't want him to let go of me' I thought and I wondered, 'Paul does this make your heart race, your insides warm, or your body shiver?'

He let go and walked and climbed onto his bunk.

"Pa… pa … Paul? Ar… are you feeling okay?" I asked, realizing those words sounded insensitive, really of course he ins't okay.

He paused on the ladder and without looking at me he said quietly, "I'm not really sure what I'm feeling these days… but I'll tell you when I know." He climbed into his bed and pulled the curtain, hiding him from view.

I quickly left the room to think. I thought about Paul. I thought about how he made me feel, so warm, important, and needed. I started to fantasize staring into those green eyes, him pulling me into deep embrace, hearing kind words spoken into my ears, and… WHAT I AM I THINKING!?! I leaned against a wall wrapping my arms around myself. 'Why am I thinking these things? Am I in… love? Do you love me Paul because... I think... I love you' I though.

* * *

I groaned when Mieke left the room. 'Of course she asked if I was okay, I've must be acting like I'm crazy' I thought depressed. 

I opened my book and started to read. The more I read the more it confirmed the theory I'd been forming since Mieke left the room.

After a few hours of reading... I was… without a doubt… in love with Mieke. What do I do now? I don't think I can tell her, especially after the way I yelled at her, but I thought I was going to lose her. Her words, 'I'm still here. Everything will be okay' kept echoing in my head. I thought, 'Well… at the least we can still be friends.'

I must have dozed off because I woke up at the sound of a door close. Checking my watch I saw it was almost 6:00 p.m. I heard Mieke walking to her bed.

I sighed and said, "Sorry... friends?"

She pulled my curtain back and looked me in the eyes. I tried to smile and she did the same, "Don't be sorry. I understand. I wouldn't have yelled at you, I would have killed you if you did something like that and of course we're still friends."

There was an air of nervousness and an awkward silence fell. She looked at something on my chest and asked, "What are you reading?"

I looked down and felt my face turn red, "Uh… well you see… um… I needed this to learn more about the human mind and social behavior." It was the best I could think of on the spot.

She shifted nervously and said blushingly, "Uh… are you done with it? Because if you are… can I read it? I curious about... um uh... something and I kinda..."

I didn't know why she wanted it, but I handed it to her and she lowered herself onto her own bed. I wish I could tell you how I feel, but it's for the best we stay friends. She smiled in a such a sweet way I swear I was melting before her. Well... whatever is happening now, our relationship is now getting much more complicated.

To Be Continued

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Well that's it for now. Stay tuned for more folks. **Please** tell me what you think? If you got any questions just call me at 410-like-hell-I'm-gonna-tell-you (AN: not my area code either.) 

Respectfully

J. H. Kamiya


	9. Chapter 9

And were off with the next chapter. Thanks for still reading. I still don't own Act Combat and all that other stuff. Enjoy this chapter. Also please review, according to my stats over 335 people have read my story and no one has given me one comment. Also I school starts today so it may be a little while before I update again, sorry. If anyone cares, which I'm strating to think you don't.

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Chapter 9: A Drunken Confession

"Today, April 1st, 1995, 1200 hours all soldiers on Sudenberg Air Force Base will be given a 12 hour leave" Mieke read from a notice on the bulletin board. I looked at the board too.

"You wanna go?" I offered. Normally I wouldn't want to go, but I still felt bad about yelling at her.

"I need to do some paper work, but it would be nice to get some diner or something from town" she said with a smile.

"Okay it's a date" An awkward silence fell and I tried to correct myself, "Uh… what I meant to say was… to go out… uh…"

I was turning very red and for some reason so was she.

I sighed and muttered, "Never mind, just do your work and I'll see you later."

She gave a nerves smile and walked off. Now what? I don't have any friends other than her. Mmmnn... I could hang out with von Klein.

I knocked on the door and entered. He was sitting at his desk and reviewing some documents. He looked the same usual, tired, poorly shaven, and tried to keep clean and neat, but too busy working.

"_Guten tag_, _Herr_ Hauptmann" I said as I sat in front of his desk.

"What happened to Ruhrman?" he asked without looking up from work.

"Paper work, but I'm taking her into town later" I said.

He paused, looked up, and with an uncharacteristic sly grin said, "A date?"

"_Nein_?!" I yelled leaping from my chair. He just chuckled a little and went back to reading from a file. I saw some dog-tags and I.D. card.

"Whose are they?"

"Foulke's."

"Why?"

"You know the Ustian mercenary who has been shooting down a number of our planes?"

"_Ja_."

"It's his first cousin, his name is Larry Foulke. Unless you want our favorite cook/pilot get taken away from by the Grey Men he's now to be known as Wolfgang Foulkern."

"You only added an R and an N?" I asked.

"If I change is name too much it would raise suspicion, but if I change it a little they will think the name was only a error on they're end and the one I have is the real name" he answered simply.

I saw a picture on his desk. It was a picture of a family of five; a small dark blonde woman in her forties, a portly man with graying black hair and glasses, a girl of 14 with dark blonde and glasses, a boy the must have been von Klein at 12, and an another boy with black hair and grey eyes about 10. "Is this your family _mein herr_?"

"_Ja_, but my parents and sister died at the beginning of the rebellion. I lost track of my little brother for a while after the rebellion in the east ended, but I think I know where he is now" he said. then came a silence. Clearly he didn't want to talk about it.

"So what's new in the war?" I asked to end the silence.

"The Ustian capitol, Directus, fell to our troops yesterday. The Ustian Army broke ranks and retreated giving us a much easier route to they're capitol than expected. Most of their military has been destroyed and now the Ustians are relying on the mercenaries to do the fighting. Tomorrow 57th Bomber Squadron with their B-52s will try and knock out Valais Air Base, the last functioning air base in Ustian hands. Speaking of which, Larry Foulke or Solo Wing Pixy should be at that base. I warned the 57th leader about him, but I don't he took me seriously about Pixy or a new pilot known as Cipher."

"What's important about those two?" I asked curiously.

"Pixy has shot down some our ace and elite pilots and Cipher… is… let's just say he is someone I remember from the _Osten_ Rebellion" he said. I could tell there was a lot more to this story, but he wasn't sharing. That was von Klein in a nutshell, he had a lot going on in his mind, but he didn't talk about much with anybody.

"What's his name?" I wanted to know that at the least.

He looked at me with that piercing stare of his and after a while he shook his head, "I don't think it's a good idea to tell you."

He wasn't going to tell me anything. I sighed, "Our we helping out with that mission?"

"_Nein_. Command doesn't think that will be necessary. The Ustian only have this one last base. We've almost beaten the Ustians and taken their whole country. The Oseans and Yuktobanians now the main threat so we'll probably be sent against them instead" he said, but he didn't seem pleased by the news.

"You don't sound happy."

"… I think this was over before it began."

"For the Allied Forces?" I asked, thinking we almost beaten the Sapins, Oseans, Yuktobanians, and Ustians.

He gave a sad tired smile and shook his head like I was being stupid. I just couldn't figure out what he was talking about.

Von Klein seemed to finish writing reviewing a file, sat up, and walked over to a corner in the room. He picked up a fishing rod and tackle box.

"I'm done for now. You wanna join me?"

I shrugged, "I don't have anything else to do until Mieke is done."

I looked at me and said seriously, "You need to tell her someday or you'll explode, you'll only be any to keep your silence for so long. Okay? Let's go." He handed me a second rod and we left. I began to think about his words and knew he was right, but I wasn't sure how to tell her. God... what do I do?

* * *

It was 5:50 p.m. and I had long since finished my paper work. I was sitting on my bed typing away on my laptop writing my romantic/comedy novel. I briefly checked the room to make sure Paul wasn't in the room. More then once he asked me what I was writing and couldn't bare the idea laughing at me for this story. 

'Robert slowly began to button the blouse of Rachel. Slowly he approached her lips and…' I felt the hairs on the back of my head stand up. I thought I heard someone enter the room, silence so I continued.

'and gently caressed her cheek and then…'

"And then, what?" said someone over my shoulder.

"EEPPP!" I shrieked. Paul was kneeling next to my bed reading my novel. He laughed a little.

"What's so funny?" I asked offended, "I don't need you laughing at my novel!"

"So you're telling me that I guy pants falling down when in an elevator wasn't intended to be funny?" he asked pointing to a previous chapter on my screen.

"Oh. Umm… you wanna eat at The Tavern?" I said embarrassed with myself and trying to change the subject.

He shook his head, "Not really."

Confused I asked, "Why?"

"In the evenings there are these girls that come up to me, smiling and asking me all thses questions. I just I knew why?"

I gasped at what he said. I couldn't believe he had no idea why. I was frowning shaking his head as though thinking. I felt my blood boil at the thought of other girls getting Paul's attention. Mmnnn... I guess this means I need to start to make some moves on Paul or at least keep his attention on me and not some bimbo.

My thinking continued to get angrier with each passing moment, 'Those bitches, how dare they try and pick up my… well they just have no business hitting on him. Wait what if there are hot? Oh no, I can't compete in this uniform, I need to change.' I ran to my trunk and rummaged for clothes. Perfected! I grabbed a blue plaid mini-skirt, tight short sleeve white T-shirt, and unbuttoned light-blue light jacket. I ran into the bathroom almost knocking Paul over as I ran past. I quickly changed and examined myself in the mirror. 'This will have to do, it's the best I can do on short notice. I can't lose him. No one else has been so nice to me and he's treated me like an equal.' I thought. I pulled my hair into a low ponytail that hung over my right shoulder and exited the bathroom. Paul was now wearing blue jeans, olive drab button shirt, and his brown jacket.

"Well? What do you think?" I asked twirling on the spot letting my hair and skirt flow a little in the turn. He didn't answer, his mouth was hanging opening and light gurgling sound was coming out.

"Uuhhh…"

I smiled, roll my eyes, grabbed his keys off his desk, and pulled him out the door to his bike.

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Once we pulled in front of the Tavern Paul shut off the engine and we got out. The Tavern unlike the first time I was there was now nosy and full of people. Paul and I seated ourselves on stools at the bar and waited for Harold the barman. The place smelled like cooking meat, alcohol, cigarettes, and other bar/restaurant smells.

After a while Harold showed up, looking very overworked, asked us our orders and ran off. After a while he brought us a plate of meat loaf and mash potatoes and root beer. (Great now I'm hungry.) We ate hungrily, well Paul ate hungrily, and I ate while looking around that room. I noticed a few girls were eyeing him from various part of the room. Paul had now finished and was now ordering a beer.

"You want one?" he asked.

Embarrassed I said, "I've… never…"

He nodded, "Right, well I just gonna have one. Unless you can drive."

"I can drive a car, but I don't have a motorcycle license."

"Hey there" said a completely unfamiliar voice behind us. A girl, maybe my age, with short red hair had stepped forward from somewhere in the room. She was wearing jean shorts and a foam green polo shirt. Paul looked up from his beer looking confused.

"May I help you with something?" I wasn't sure weather to be happy or not that he was too dense to see when a girl was hitting on him. As for me, I wasn't jealous (denial is so sad, isn't it?), but I did want to break my bar stool over her head.

In a seductive voice she said, "I think you can. Would you care to join me and my friend?" She jerked her head towards another girl with long blonde hair.

"Sorry, but I can't leave my friend here" Paul said indicating me. 'Ah, Ah! Take the bitch! I saw him first and he's mine… well, I saw him before you' I thought savagely, 'just take your over stuffed bra and leave us alone.' Looking a little offended she stormed off back to her friend. I smiled, but almost immediately scowled when I saw her friend walking over. She had long shiny blonde hair, black jean mini-skirt, and a light-pink button shirt that had most of the top buttons unbuttoned showing off the gap between her breasts.

"Hi there Mr. Soldier, how are you doing?" she said with a grin that made me wish I had taken my gun with me.

"Okay, I guess" Paul said densely.

"How about you join me for some fun?"

"Sorry, it's like I told your friend I…"

"Come on, I can rock your world a lot more than that puny thing next to you" she said.

"Huh?" Paul said stunned, I could tell he was finally putting two and two together and he looked like he was panicking. He looked at me, clearly begging for help. I was happy to help and I wanted to help by smash something over her head for trying to steal Paul and calling me puny. Without looking I grabbed my glass, drank it down, and I was going to throw it at her when I realized that root beer shouldn't burn my throat. I started coughing and I also started to feel warm and loose.

* * *

'Is this women coming on to me?! What do I do?! What do I do?! I don't want her, I want Mieke' I thought desperately. I heard Mieke coughing and I looked at her. She was holding a glass and I saw it wasn't her drink. I took it, smelt it, and realized with horror that it was a very strong alocohol of some kind. I did some fast calculations in my head, 'Mieke has never had a drink before plus her light body weight equals… oh scheißen!' 

Mieke looked up and confirmed my worst fears when I saw how out of focused her eyes were. She stumbled to her feet and drunkenly walked, no pun intended, to the girl was. Mieke glared as best she could despite her state and the fact the other girl was three or four inches taller. She tried to level a finger at her face, but pointed at the girl's shoulder instead and managed to say angrily, "Li… liste' here ya… ya slut! Ba.. ba… back off I sa' 'im firs'… an'…" 'What the hell is going on?!' I thought. (Please take note take Mieke is intoxicated and isn't speaking clearly.)

Mieke continued to rant, "He's ma' mon! Okay… and if ya don'ta' go away… I'll… I'll…" Whatever Mieke was going to do she didn't say because she threw up on the girl.

Thinking fast I tossed some Marks on the table and grabbed Mieke's arm and said gently, "Mieke let's get out of here. Come on we'll go somewhere, anywhere where. Okay?"

She looked at me confused, not recognizing me. After a few seconds she realized who I was and with a lazy grin said, "Aawww, ya so sweet Paul. I knew ya' car' only 'bout me an' not tha' slut."

I almost picked her up and dragged her out of the Tavern as fast as I could go. Her giggled and said, "Ya' holdin' me. Ya' like me don't ya?"

I put her in the sidecar, put the goggles and helmet on her, prayed she wouldn't fall off, and got the hell out of there.

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I finally entered our room with Mieke draped over my shoulder; still giggling a little. I let go of her and wobble on the spot for a moment. She started to fall, but I managed to grab her from behind around the waist. I pulled her to her feet and she slow turned around in my arms. She looked confused and looked up and down at me as though she wasn't sure what I was doing. She suddenly gave me a lazy grin and to my surprise she wrapped her arms around my neck.

"Ya' holdin' me again" she said pulling me down towards her.

"Hey! Mieke what are you doing?" I yelled. She stared at me, her eyes started to fill with tears, and her lip started to quiver.

"Don't ya' like me. Cause I love you." That left me in shock. Was this the alcohol talking or was it her, this isn't fair.

"I do love you, but…" I mumbled. Her drunken smile return and she started pulling me closer. I thought, 'well it's not like I'm going to get another chance like this again.' I let her pulling closer, closer, and then I could smell her breath. Not the sweet scent I remember, but whisky. I can't do this, she's not in control.

"Mieke wait, you can't… Mieke? ... are you awake?" She passed out on my chest. I sighed in relief and started kicking myself for my moment of weakness. 'I can't believe I almost took advantage her' I thought ashamed of myself.

I held her there for a while, running my hand through her long silky hair. I carried her to her bed, pulled back the covers, put her in, removed her jacket, and tucked her in. I brushed some stray hairs out of her face feelinh her soft skin, closed the curtain on her bed, and sat at my desk.

Looking at the curtain she was behind I said, "Was that the alcohol talking or do you really love me? AAGGHHHH! Von Klein was right, I need to tell her or I'll explode."

To Be Continued

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Hope you liked it. Will Paul tell Mieke that he loves her? Well of course he will. **Please** review. I think I said this before, but I really starting to hate my title and if anyone has a better one then FOR THE LOVE OF GOD TELL ME PLEASE! 

Respectfully

J. H. Kamiya


	10. Chapter 10

Hi ya'll. Thanks for still reading my story. I don't own Ace Combat and the other stuff so please don't sue me. I'd also like to thank AT0 for your review. I glad someone is will to share there opinion. From here on the Ustions will be referred to as Ustians, I just made the corrections, but if I missed any let me know. Because this chapter and chapter 11 are already typed up his character will not appear until chapter 12. Sorry. If anyone else would like to share an idea please do it soon or I may not be able to include them.

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Chapter 10: Start of Something Beautiful

'Uuhhggg… why does my head hurt so much? What happened last night?' I thought hold my head a hand. I was still in the same clothes I wore last night and in my bed. Slowly I made my way out of bed and grabbed my uniform out of my footlocker. I went to the bathroom and slowly changed. I felt sick and my tongue felt like it was covered in fuzz. (I'm 18 and I've never been drunk before so I'm basing my descriptions from MASH when Hawkeye and Trapper are drunk.)

I wobbled my way to my desk chair and sat down. I heard a door slam, Paul set a cup of coffee, and the entire pot too. He said in a booming voice, "Drink this it will help."

I moaned holding my head, "Please don't shout, your making my head hurt."

He leaned close and said in a softer voice that still made my head hurt, "You have a hangover. I'm not shouting. Just drink the coffee."

'Hangover? What happened?' I wondered as I drank coffee, one after another.

After about 7 or 8 cups I felt well enough to have a conversation.

"What happened?" I groaned.

He smiled and nodded, "You accidentally picked up someone else's drink, which I think was whisky. You started to get a little out of control and I dragged you out of there as fast as I could. Then you… uh… passed out."

"What did I do to those girls?"

"You threw up on one of them and that's when I got you out of there."

Something then occurred to me and nervously asked, "Did I say anything… about you?"

He turned a little pink and said quickly, "You were ranting about me and later you were coming on to me, but I think it was the whisky talking. Anyways, you kind of tried to… um kiss me, **but** you passed out first."

"I see…" I said slowly and then quickly, "I guess I say strange things when I'm drunk."

He seemed disappointed at that, but managed to smile, "Okay then, you want rest or get some fresh air with von Klein and me? We're gonna go fishing on the river at the end of the base."

'I wish I could tell you it wasn't the alcohol… well I was drunk, but that's not the point' I thought, "Just let me get changed."

I went into the bathroom and changed into my uniform. I exited pulled on my officer's jacket.

"It's cold out today" Paul said tossing me my _Wehrmacht_ issued winter coat, a long flat-grey wool coat fell to my ankles.

"_Danke_" I said. I also wrapped a scarf around my neck and put on a wool winter cap. He wore the same except instead of a winter cap he wore a grey hat with flaps over his ears.

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Paul and I wear now following von Klien on his motorcycle, unlike Paul's von Klein had no sidecar. We were heading for the far end of Sudenberg AFB.

Blau, Gray, and Braun Squadron along with the 17th night-fighter squadron occupied the tarmac and hangers by runway 02. Runway 02 runs from east to west, the east ending in the middle of the base and the west marking the far west end of the base. At the east end of runway 02 starts runway 01, this goes towards the northwest causing the two to make a sort of V shape. Near where runways 01 and 02 meet is the main buildings; base HQ, control tower, main mess hall, some of the hangers for larger planes like B-52s or C-17s, base medical facility, and various offices. East of runway 02 is runway 03, the largest and longest runway which is used mainly by bombers, transports, and utility planes. 03 runs west to east and mark the far east end of the base. North of 03 is runways 04 and 05; which are the smallest runways used by the base defense fighters. Our quarters were on the south side of runway 02. We were going to the end of runway 03 where a river ran. (AN: If I can I'll make a map.)

The sky today was grey and I figured that snow might fall even though it was April now. **BAM!** I grabbed onto my seat as Paul had hit a pothole, but aside from the shock I nothing else seemed to be wrong.

"You okay?"

"Just surprised."

I was thinking about what I might have said to Paul last night. 'I'm sure I told him I love him, but now what? There is going to make things in between us awkward, too awkward. He needs to hear it from me, sober, but how do I tell him?'I thought. I felt another jolt that almost sent me flying. The service road that ran along runway 03 was in bad shape. I was glad when we got out at the end of runway 03 and to the river.

A roar came from above as an KC-10 Extender took off. I watched it disappear in the clouds very quickly; the clouds must be low today.

Von Klein, Paul, and I walked down a catwalk meant to service guide lights the wear in the river. Someone had left a stool and a bench out. Von Klein took the stool and we took the bench. Paul and von Klein started to put fishing lures on the rods they had brought with them. They both cast off into the deep dark rapid flowing river. I didn't fish. I shivered a little at the sight of the water.

I said to Paul, "I hope this catwalk is safe because I can't swim."

He looked at me in surprise, "You can't swim either?"

"Either?" I said confuse, "You can't swim?"

"Hoffnung is an industrial city, so I'm sure the water is polluted (AN: Think Pittsburg), plus the barges and cargo ships make some dangerous currents."

"Dinsmark is just too cold for swimming all year around. In fall you can see icebergs floating by and in winter the water freezes over." We both laughed. I don't know why, but we just did.

"You fish?"

"_Nien_. Von Klein taught me yesterday when you were doing paper work. We still haven't caught anything." He said annoyed that he still hadn't got a bite.

I smiled, "keep at it."

"Easy for you to… I think I felt a tug."

"Really?" I asked.

"_Ja_, you got a bite, give a jerk and started to pull him in like I taught you" Von Klein instructed when he noticed Paul got a bite.

"I almost have him… damn it!" Whatever Paul had, it had broken free, "Oh well, at least I didn't lose the lure."

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Just spending time with Paul was a lot of fun. Unfortunately, I was crashing from after all the cups of coffee I had this morning. I was cold and tired and wanted to take a nap. I leaned against something warm and comfortable. It was Paul's arm. I wrapped both my arms around his arm and rested my head on his shoulder. It really was quite comfortable and I felt myself drift off into sleep.

* * *

"She's sleeping on me. What do I do?" I asked von Klein desperately. 

"She choose you as a pillow, that must mean something, so you both might as well enjoy it and let her sleep" he said sounding slightly amused like he always did when it came to Mieke and me. I let her stay because she was warm, it was cold, and I liked her clutching me, plus I wasn't physically strong enough to pry her off me. This is getting painful, her being this close, but me not telling her and she's holding my arm to tightly. I need to talk to her about… how I feel. Damn that sounds lame, but it's true.

"73rd bomber squadron will be returning soon from Valais Air Base, right?" I asked trying to strike up a different subject.

"_Ja_, I'm waiting to see if any come back alive" he said cynically.

"It can't be that bad" I reasoned.

"I'm not so optimistic; some really good pilots are defending that base."

"Like this 'Solo Wing Pixy'?"

"_Ja_… you heard that?"

We heard then the whining roar of planes coming in for a landing. Out of the clouds came a B-52 with a chunk of the tail fin missing. Three F-5Es were coming behind the B-52. The first two looked damage, but not too bad. The third however was trailed smoke and wobbling in the sky.

The B-52 landed and then two of the F-5Es were out of sight because the runway was raised higher than the river. When the third F-5E came in, we lost sight of it like the others, but an explosion came soon after.

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Mieke, who woke at the explosion, was running ahead of me for the bike. Von Klein was already going to scene of the crash. We both raced for the runway.

Once there we saw that the Tiger that had crash was now a burning heap that emergency crew were trying to put out. We follow von Klein who was now going over to the surviving pilots.

He calmly asked, "What happen?"

One of the pilots took a deep breath and in a shaky voice said, "We were heading to Valais like we were ordered. Some snow, but not too bad. Once we got near the base a group of Ustion F-5s and F-4s tried to stop us, but we took care of them. Everything was going fine when…"

"When what" von Klein asked sharply.

The pilot took another deep breath and continued, "Two F-15C Eagles jumped us. One was grey with one wing painted red. The other was also grey, but with the ends of the wings painted blue… he wasn't like… anything I've ever seen." The pilot was now trembling and appeared to be terrified of the memory of this enemy pilot.

"He was like… he was like…" He tried to say something.

"Like a demon?" von Klein offered. The pilot nodded.

"They both had red demon dog on the insignia."

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Von Klein, Mieke, and I were now in von Klein's office. He didn't have to be there, but we both wanted answers about what kind of pilot could inflict such fear and destroy so many of our planes.

"_Herr_ Hauptmann who are these pilots?" Mieke asked, she hadn't been there when we walked about Pixy and Cipher.

"The first plane that man described was a pilot named Larry Foulke, known as Solo Wing Pixy. He's a mercenary born in Belka and now flies for the Ustian 6th Air Division, Galm Squadron. Galm 2 to be exact. According to recorded enemy communications Galm 1 is a pilot known as Cipher." He sighed and put his pipe in his mouth.

"You said you knew this 'Cipher' guy from the _Osten_ Rebellion, right?" I asked wanting to know more.

He gave me a little frown, "I'm not getting rid of you until I tell you more, am I?"

I nodded, he sighed, "Fine. Cipher was a quiet kid in our group of militia fighters. He didn't have a home or family and had no where to go and therefore fought with us. He was kinda like me in ways, not the friendliest person, like to sit in corners and sit quietly, and most people found him scary and intimidating. He kinda looked up to me and I was the only person who took care of him. Basically what you need to know is not to freeze up if you're unlucky enough to fight him or you **will** die. Also he knows a lot more about fighting wars than you and has much more experience than two battles unlike you… he's also… well that's not important."

We both gulped at that description.

"If you don't need anything else, leave because I have work to do."

* * *

Paul and I entered our room. I sat down at my desk and sneezed. I felt a warm hand, which sent a shiver of joy down my spine, on my forehead. Even though Paul was only checking to see if I was sick, it still made me feel warm inside. 

"Mmmnn… I guess you're fine" he said as he withdrew his hand while I wanted to grab it, put it against my cheek, and hold it there.

Paul sat down at his desk, which was next to mine, and said, "I think _Herr_ Hauptmann von Klein knows this Cipher a lot better than he is willing to let on."

I smiled and said, "That may be true, but he won't tell us… it kind of sounded like he was someone close, but that won't make him tell us."

He sighed, looked down, frowned, and said, "Mieke I thought you were going to keep better track of your clothes."

"Huh?" I looked and saw I left a sock by his desk. I stood up and slipped on the other sock, which I didn't see. I fell, closed my eyes, braced myself for the crash, but I felt something catch me. I also felt my forehead now resting against something warm. I opened my eyes and I saw bright green eyes wide in shock staring back at me. I'd fallen against Paul and my forehead was resting on his. We were like that for a while breathing on each other and staring. As though magnetized we both started moving closer, he slowly wrapped his arms around my waist and I around his neck. Our lips were moving closer, closer… **knock, knock**.

* * *

Mieke leaped to her feet and tried to slow her breathing. I wheeled around to face my desk, opened a book, and tried to look like I'd been reading for hours. I gave Mieke a nervous nod; she nodded back, and opened tet door. Of course I wasn't surprised to see Krauss, who else could pick such an inconvenient time to call or kill such a moment? 

"Hey guys, what are you doing?" he said in his usual happy loud voice.

"What makes you think we were doing something?" Mieke asked suspiciously.

"Huh?" he said confused, after all he usually asked the questions.

"Why are you here? What do you want? Are you following us? Or is it me?! You always seem to pick on me here, well?!" Mieke asked in a voice that sounded very annoyed. As for me, I was still trying to figure out what had almost happened.

"Well…" Krauss started to say clearly not being questioned like he does to other people.

"Forget it!" Mieke yelled and slammed the door in his face. She walk to her desk sat, down, and sighed. She scooted her chair closer to mine and she place a hand on my cheek. I feel me cheek burn on contact, but in a good way.

"Paul I think I need to tell you about how I feel. You see even though I was drunk and probably ranting a bunch of crazy things it doesn't change the fact that I think I lov…" **knock, knock**. Mieke looked about as angry as I felt at being interrupted at such a moment.

She stood up, walked to the door, and there was Krauss.

"There was a reason I stopped by. I'm suppose to tell you both that all offensive action by the _Luftwaffe_ is to be halted until further notice by order of Air Command in Dinsmark" he said.

"Fine. Got it" she slammed the door in his face and again.

She walked over to me, pulled her hands on both my shoulders, and said, "As I was saying before we were interrupted I may have been drunk, but it doesn't change that fact that I may have been saying things that I really think I feel. You have been a lot nicer to me than most people I've met and you've been more caring and make me feel special…"

I nodded as her voice trailed off and I said to her, "I know, I think I feel the same. I haven't felt this way and I didn't really understand most of what I felt for a while. You've treated me like I was important, like I mattered to you, and like you thought I was somebody. Not just a pilot or just a guy that you have to deal with, but someone that you enjoy being around. I can't picture you not being around me and I think I lov… **knock, knock**… you stay here I'm going to kill him."

I stood up and walked to the door. I opened it and saw Krauss with a file.

"I almost forgot to tell you guys. There's a filed complaint against Mieke for drunk and disorderly conduct. I think that it's going to be taken care of quickly and without a problem, but I'm supposed to give you this as Mieke's direct superior" he said handing me the file.

"Fine. Anything else?" I asked trying not to show how much he was bothering me today.

"_Nein_, but you guys wanna…?"

"_Nein_! Asked someone else and that an order!" I snapped at him. I slammed the door.

I sigh and turned around. Suddenly I was pinned against the wall by Mieke.

"Mieke?! What are you doing?" I asked quite shocked.

"I think we said enough and I want to do something before we are interrupted again" she said with a sweet, but devilish grin.

Dumbly I asked, "What?"

In three words, she kissed me. I probably should have seen this coming since this wasn't the first she was this close to me. She moved her arms from pinning mine to wrapping themselves around my waist while I did the same. She kept her left arm around my waist and rubbed my back with her right hand. I moved my left hand to the small of her back and stroked her hair with my right. Whatever else was going on was unimportant to me. Who care about Krauss, the complaint, the war, Belka, Osea, Ustio, the Fascist Party, the Grey Men, the two mercenary pilots who single-handedly stumped our air offensive, or anything, at this moment Mieke was my entire world and that's all I needed, she was all I needed. 'So this is what love feels like' I thought happily, 'those books I read that had romance in it vastly unstated what this really feels like.'

For all I knew or cared we were like that for days. Finally we broke apart and gasped for breath. I looked at her and never felt so attached to anyone in my life. She looked at me, her face red, gave me a loving smile, and rested her head against my chest. I remembered how death felt so overwhelming, love felt the similar, but it made me feel bigger and freer instead of smaller and trapped.

"Paul" Mieke asked in a warm voice.

"_Ja?_" I asked stroking her hair again.

"I love you" she said calmly.

I thought about how I felt. No more doubts were in my mind and I said, "I love you too."

To Be Continued

* * *

I think that last part came out better then I hoped. Hope you guys like it too. I think I know where my story is going now or at least a good idea. I'm still open to idea though. Please tell me what weather I'm good writer or I stink and need to give up. 

Respectfully

J. H. Kamiya


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